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Otago Daily Times, Issue 50, 13 January 1862, Page 2

Nuw Zealand " Gazette."—A Gazette was publisheel yesterda}', which contains several, proclamations and orders in council, giving more or less eflect to Sir George Grey's policy of pacification. The resignation by Mr. Mantqll of the office of minister for native affairs, is gazetted. By proclamation a circuit court is appointed to be holden in New Plymouth, for the province of Taranaki, on the 13th January next. George Clarke, sen., Esq., of AVaimate, is g:\zetted to the oflice of Civil Commissioner fir the district of the Bay of Islands, under the Native Districts Regulatio 1 Act, 1858. The quarter's returns ending on the 30th September, have been published. Erom them we learn that the Custom's revenue at Aucklond for the quarter was £21,319 14s. lie 1., as compared with £12:701 L7s. 3d.' for the corresponding quarter of 1860. The Custom's ie-: venue of AVehington for the quarter was £S79oT 9s. 9d. ; New -Plymouih. £1.504 16s. 9d. ;'. Napier, £2,293 ,'s. 4el, ; Nelson, £5.806 10s. 10d.y Picton, £202 12s. 9d. ; Lyttelton, £9,578 13s. 4d. ; Dunedin, £13.7; I 16s. sd. ; Invercargill, £1,173 9s. Id. The total revenue for the quarter was £GG,934 16s. Sd., as compared with £45,789 18s. 6d. in 1860, showing an increase of £21,144 17s. 2d., or nearly 50 per cent. The table of exports also shows satisfactory results. Thus the totalestimated value of exports for the quarter eneled September 30, is £130,900 as against £10,785 in 1860 ; in other words the exports have trebled. The exports from Duuedin during the past quarter amounted to £91,916 as compared with £7,976 in the September quarter last year. From Auckland the exports for the quarter amounted to £11,967 against £10,234 in 1860. The exports from the sub-ports in the provinces amounted to £5,697 which makes the total exports from this province amount to £17,574 during the quarter. Of course it will be understood that the export of Otago province consisted of gold.;— Southern Cross,

.A llieriiLANo Leg end. —I will close this chapte^with a legendary tale add concerning'a Cantire farm-house and its inmates, in the nearneighborhood of Glencreggan, which, in its dramatic character, surpasses ibe siorv of Mary the Maid of tho Inn. It is this :—-i ttica upon a time in Barr-Glen, on a wild winter's night, a farmer and his family and servants were comfortably seated around a peat-fire, when the wind was howling terribly around the house and the drifting snow ' was clagging up the doorways. The farmer knew that his son and the servant girl were much attached to each other, but he would not consent to their marriage. Wliile they were all sitting round the fire on that winter's night he thought of a plan by which the girl should be got rid of; so he said that if, before the next day, she woulu bring him a skull that was in Saddle Church, she should have his son for a husband. The girl's love was so strong for the young man that she joyfully agreed to the proposal, although it was quite seven miles to Saelelell, aud the road thereto lay over Beinn-an-Tuire. She knew the road well and all its dangers and difficulties, even by daylight, winch would now be immensely increased by the darkness of the night, the fierce wind and driving snow, and the slippery rocks and swollen torrents. But she did not shrink from the danger, and at" once made ready and went on her way. The farmer took good care that she went alone, and that his son ditl not follow her. The brave girl went over the hill and glen, battling with the snowstorm, and tracking her path with the greatest difficulty. She passed safely over the southern side of Bcinn-an-Tuirc, aud by midnight reached Saddell Church. Its doors were open, burst open perhaps by the vislence ofthe wind. She knew the place where the skull was kept, and she groped towards it in the dark. As she cliel so she heard a great and peculiar noise, made up as it seemed of loud moans. There was a trampling of light feet on tne pavement, anil she heard forms rush past her ; then a moment's silence, succeeded by more mysterious moans and sounds. Terrified but not disheartened, the brave girl kept her purpose steadily in view ; and, groping towatds the skull, seized it with both hands, anel made for the church door. The trampling of feet and moans continued, and the forms pursued her. Grasping the skull she gained the door, and pulled it to after her. As she did so she heard a great rush against it ; but she turned and fled. By daylight she had regained her lover's home, and half dead with fatigue and excitement, placcel the skull in the farmer's hand, und claimed the fulfilment of his promise. The farmer was taken aback by seeing the girl, having hoped that she would have perished amid the snow and wilds. He would not believe that she had really been to Saddell, and taken the skull from the church on such a night ; so he at once set out to Saddell with s .me of his men, expecting to be able to disapprove the girl's tale, by finding the skull still in its place in the church. AVhen they got there, aad had opened the church door, they found within the building—not the skull, but a_ number of wild deer, who, having found the door open, had sought shelter from the violence ofthe storm. The girl had told him of the sounds she had heard within the church. Here was their cause ; and, much as be wished it otherwise, yet it was impossible for him to disbelieve her tale. There was nothing for him to do but .to yield with the best grace he might He gave his consent to the match ; and, to make assurance doubly sure, the lover took his brave girl to Saddell Church the very next day, where she replaced the skull in its old position, and they were married off hand. And as some of the deer that had frightened her had been killed and cooked, they had a hearty wedding and plenty of good venison at the feast that followed.— Glencreggan; or, a Highland Home in Cantire. By Cuthbert Bede.

CitiNOLiNB in Exetek Hall.—The following letter appears in the Times : —Sir, —l have applied for some reserved seats for the oratorio of "Elijah," both at Mr. Mitchell's and at Mr. Sams's libraries, anel was told there were none to bo bad. On inquiry I ascertained the somewhat amusing fact that nearly 400 seats had been sacrificed to—crinoline I The hall holds 3,00u seats, of 16 inches each ; but the present fashion requires 18. and reduces the number of sittings hy370..0r 375. AVhen Handel produced his Messiah for the benefit of a charity in in Dublin the managers are reported to have requesteel the ladies to elispeiise with hoops for the occasion. Might not the precedent he followed on the 22nd, to enable a greater number of persons lo witness the wondrous performance, and to add nearly £400 to the charities in aid pf which Madame Lind-Goldsmidt hat consented once more to leave her retirement?

A STRANGE CAItWER. (Prom the Notliiiglia-n, Afhcn<eum.)

When my professional dutic-i ealleel me to Birmingh'.ini, I was si tins' at my hotel, after dinner, moodily sipping my winu in a lonely spirit (for tliere is nothing so lonesome as being in 11 large populous town where you know nobody and nobody cares for you), when the landlord entered the private room in which I was sitting, and, after apologising for the intrusion, said, " Tliere is a young fellow down- tairs in the bar wishes to see you ; be does not know your name, but asked if any legal gentleman was staying at my house during the assize, and begged me to introduce him if such was the case. The fact is, sir," continued my host, "he is a clever man who lia3 seen better days, and now obtains a little money by singing and reciting in various public-house bars ; he tloiibtless wishes to amuse you and benefit himself pecnniaryly as well, and if you are not otherwise engaged you will find him excellent company." " Quite a godsend," I thought to myself, ns I immediately requested the landlord to ask the stranger upstairs, and invited him to return himself and bring up another bottle of his old port. He presently returned, bringing up a young man, pale and haggard, whose apparel savored of the shabby genteel, without the slightest pretensions to linen of any sort. No one coukl look in his face without observing that intellect was not one of his wants, though its " elevil-may-care " expression, together with his attire, suggested that he had not applied that intellect to the best advantage. He entered on his business at once : "Sir," said he, "I am destitute—in fact, hi plain English, ' hard up.' 1 wish to give imitations of celebrated barristers on the home circuit ; if I cause you amusement you may pay me for it, and if I don't you can order me to withdraw." I liked his bluntness, unel falling in with liis humour told him to give us an immediate specimen of his powers. He die! commence, anel for two hours I and the delighted landlord listened with rapt attention ; his imitations were magnificent, his voice was a rich basso, and as he went from pathetic to gay in an imaginary breach of promise case, in which he introduced imitations of the most celebrated pleaders ofthe day, I felt that he was in possession of talents which ought to make him a great man. From the " bar" he went on to the " stage," imitating the leading actors and actresses admirably. I invited him to supper, during which he surprised me with the diversity of his information ; his knowledge seemed universal, and he spoke ofthe private affairs of many public men as if he was in their confidence. I tried to obtain some knowledge of his past life, but upon this point at least he was totally silent. After supper he sang comic songs with a comicality which sent the lanellord into convulsions ; but when the small hours warned us ofthe time of departure his dejection returned, and in reply to my question whether I should sec him again before my departure he said he did not know —he was a rolling stone, a poor devil, whose prospects were a blank ; he thanked me earnestly and gratefully for the two sovereigns which I placed in his hand, and bade me a good night. I had looked upon this circumstance as a remembrance of the past, when four years afterwards, I entered a music saloon at Liverpool to while away an hour, and as I entered, a singer on the stage was treating the audience to the comic performance of " Tippe'.iwitchet.". The voice and manner were familiar -, the comic singer was my quondam acquaintance of a night. I sent my card to him behind the scenes, and in a few minutes out he came, anel knew me directly. " I should have known you anywhere," said he, as he shook my hand's ; " you must, sup with me to night, when I will tell you my history for the 2iast four years; I'm going on again to sing another song, and then I've clone for the night." AVhen he hael left the stage, amidst a furore of applause, we went to another part of the house and ordered supper. ,; AVell," said I, after wmie ordinary conversation, " how much do you get for this job ?" " Get! why, I'm the proprietor, and get what I can ; I only wish I was a servan; instead of a master ; I've nearly lost all I started with, which was not much,and I fear I shall have to leave Liverpool in a hurry." During supper he told me his career between my seeing him at Birmingham and the present time. He had been a local preacher, and was doing prosperously, but his reckless conduct would not allow him, to stick to anything long. During his ministry, the eldest daughter of a tallow chandler, and the daughter of a rich baker, members of his congregation, fell in love with him, anel worked him as many slippers, braces, and smoking caps, as would stock a bazaar. While, however, the two ladies were anxiously waiting for a proposal, our hero walked off with an old sweetheart, and quietly threw away the white clerical tie in disgust. Eighteen months after this found him again in Birmingham, very poor, and trying to gain n livelihood by teaching bad writers to write well in six lessons. He had a little room in .1 low neighbourhood, the walls of which were covercel with " specimens of my handwriting" before anel after six lessons. After this he gained a livingmore iv the •' strolling vagrant line" than anything else, until the possession of a little ready money bought him the proprietorship of the music saloon in Liverpool. I heard of his leaving Liverpool, as he said, in a hurry, deeply regretted by a large number of creditors. I next heard of him being in Nottingham, getting a subsistence by reading the newspapers to the company who attended the Sir Isaac Newton public house, in Glasshouse street. About this time, 1839, Sergeant AVilele, afterwards Lord Truro, contesteel Newark (until this'tiine considered a close borough in the possession ofthe Duke of Newcastle) against the Tory candidate, Mr. Thesiger, afterwards Sir Frederick Thesiger, Attorney-Genera], Lord High Chancellor, and now Lord Chelmsford. Our hero won the election for AVilele in this way :—Much excitement existed throughout the country regarding the slave trade ; anel as a means of bringing unpopularity on the Conservative candidate, lie got a lot of blackguards blacked and chained, himself included, to inarch through the town, to illustrate the horrors of slavery, calling attention to the cruelty of the candidate who would tolerate such a state of things. This and other dodges, invented by my acquaintance, won AA rilde's election by a majority of nine, he having been defeated in 1832 by Gladstone and Handley, by a majority of 74. Sergeant AVilele, after the election, gave him £50, which he spent in riotous dissipation. But our frienel was never to look back from this point. Sergeant AVilele, who had observed the genius of his election dodger, proniisetl to aiel him on one condition, that he should study for the bar and enter himself in the Temple. The oiler was accepted, the paper reader, the Shakesperian reciter, the comic singer, the saloon comedian, tlie penman, the man about town, the election dodger, became a barrister, his patron paying all his fees until he obtained bis first brief. He commciicetl to defend pickpockets at the Oltl Bailey, and such was the acuteness of his minel that he could detect a flaw in the evidence sooner than men better versed in the law. He thus obtaineel the acquittal of more thieves than any criminal lawj-er of his age : his crossexaminations were terrible ; lie could frighten a witness until lie scarcely knew what he said. I saw liim but once again during this part of his career ; it was at Nottingham, in the assize court, during the trial of a young woman for child murder. AVhen the counsel for the prisoner rose, 1 gazed upon the unmistakeable heitel and face of the ci-devant local preacher. In a few leading questions he elicited from an unwilling witness the fact that tlie uncle of the prisoner died in a lunatic asylum, that her father was confined in one for two years, and eventually Obtained a verdict of " not guilty," on the ground of insanity. I saw by the black patch ou the top of his wig that he was now a sergeant-at-law. His power as an advocate was known to be such tliat lie was often retained and received his fees for cases in which lie never appeared at all, and was never intended to appear, the fees being paid for the purpose of keeping him out of tlie way of the other side. From this time until his death, his income averaged £ 10,000 a-year, but his extravagance always kept him in debt. He had a house in town sumptuously furnished, and another which he built himself at Kensington, and usetl to drive tandem to and fro, at the rate of fourteen miles an hour. One Friday morning, in the year 1850, the learned sergeant was taken ill through exhaustion whilst pleading at the court of assize at —, and being removed, died at his residence about three weeks afterwards. He had already been engaged by Mr. Smith, of Birmingham, for the defence of Palmer at the Old Bailey, on the charge of murdering Coqk, but in consequence of his death the brief was given to Sergeant Shee. I merely give these few facts illustrative of the genius of a man who lucked principle and stability. I think he is buried at Kcnsull Green Cemetery, and that Baron Martin paid his funeral expenses. I know that a benefit took-'.-place at the Haynmrket on behalf of his widow. His name was Charles | Witkins.