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Otago Daily Times, Issue 176, 9 June 1862, Page 4

There was no business transaction at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday, thera not being a single charge on the sheet or a case for adjudication. , '

It has long bean an objection to the u<se of t':<CO nnon building stone, which can ba so cb pv mid abundantly obtained at Cavcrsliam an i o;her< places in ths neighborhood of Dunedin, t:- :•■<. ibis so soffcand absorbent, aud, consequently, .so perishable and unsafe. Tiiis objection, it would now appear, may be considered to be got over, a chemical process having been discovered by which the stone may be rendered, not only hard, but impervious to moisture, and even capable of taking a polish. A patent for this process is held by a Mr. W. 11. Ryan, who, on Saturday, left at o«r office two samples of the prepared stone. One of these is in the shape of a_ paving tile, is very hard, and. apparently well suited to the object for which it is intended. The other sample is

broken portion of a similar tile, the fracture of which shows that the change in the character of the stone is not merely superficial, but that the chemical effect is of a penetrating' character, as it is sjust as hard iir the middle us on the surface. One special advantage of the employment of this process would seem to be that the stone may, in its soft state, be worked to the form required, and then hardened' by the chemical treatment. We have not been informed as to the cost of the process but if it be inexpensive it cannot fail to come, into general use. It is notified by the Provincial authorities that the Past Day being on Thursday next, June 12 the Provincial Government Offices witl be closed on that day. For Saturday evening the management of the i Princess Theatre put forth a "great bill," being the representation of two rather heavy pieces, " Belphes'or the Mountebank" and lhe "Corsican Brothers." Both went off remarkably veil, showing a marked improvement upon previous representations. As Fabien. ili Franchi, in the Corsican Brothers, Mr. Tom F/aweett played bolter than we remember to have seen him before; with more easy and simplicity. The parts also were 'capitally dressed by the principal characters. We must not forget to notice the amusing scene of the reconciliation of the two Corsican families that hail been of deadly fend for generations about a hen. The audience were immensely amused when Mr. Dunn pulled out a live hen from the capacious pockets of his wids trousers. On a former occasion we noticed Bclphegor at some length, it is therefore only necessary for us to say* that it was even better done than before. There was a very good house.

Owing to the large room at the Athcnxnm being now required for the library of that institution; the members of the ..Dunedin Musical Association are unable to continue for the present their usual weekly practising. They expect, however, to make arrangements for the use of the school-room at Dr. Burns's church, when the weekly meetings for practice will be resumed. Ie is to be hoped that the society will receive a considerable accession to its numbers, and more par. ticularly of the gentler sex.

Some few weeks ago, it was slated in our columns that some miners working not far from Waitahuna, had found soriie large bones, supposed to be those of the gigantic Moa, now believed to be extinct. We may mention that one of the most complete specimens of the remains of this species of bird, was found some years ago not far from Waikouaiti, and it is yet possible that the numerous parties of men now prospecting the country in that district may come across remains in the shape of bones or fossils. We trust that if any of the miners should make any discoveries of this nature, they will take the trouble to preserve the specimens and hand them over to the Provincial Government. By such means as these very valuable assistance is sometimes afforded towards the museums of the colonies.

We lately published from the Victorian papers an account of the discovery of a serious defalcation on the part of the Sub-Treasurer of Castlcmaine, hut the following paragraph wonld seem to show that a continuous and systematic plan of robbery had been carried on for a length of time previous. We quote from tne Mount Alexander Hail, Slay 21: —"We hear there is reason to believe that

Griils' Ikijj of-gold is not the only oiio from which." gold has been abstracted. An inspection of other bugs has disclosed" tiia fact th.it they contained it portion of lead instead of the move precious metal. Depositors will only act prudently if thay tuaUtj investigation into the character uf their deposits as early as possible."

We hiive, on more than one occasion, found it necessary to remark upon the cruel ill treatment of horses by beating them about the head, and only a day or two ago, a fresh instance of this kind of brutality came wider our notice at the quarry on the beacli road. It is, however, to another phase of cruelty that we now desire to call attention, and we do so, not only in the hope that means will be taken by the authorities to prevent it, hut that the carters themselves will have their eyes opened to the cruelty of what may possibly have been mere thoughtlessness on their part. We allude to the practice of driving horses into deep water to get the carts alongside of i lighters, and keeping the poor creatures standing immersed above the girths all the while the drays are being loaded. This may be a perfectly inuoccnt and safe practice'in warm weather, but on cold days it must be rery painful to the animals. In the Supreme Court on Saturday, the appeal case of Augus Macdonald, was re-opened; and judgment ressr-cd by His Honor Mr. Justice Grcsson. Mr. Cook argued that the.information upon which a conviction had been found was unincorrect. The charge ran in the following terms : "Forthat the defendant, had introduced on the 19th March last, into the Province of Otago, from the Province of Southland, 1900 infected sheep, contrary to section 94 of the Sheep Ordinance, 185 6," for which the Resident 5 lagistrate adjudged him to pay the penalty of .£9O, and on the same date, for introducing 100 infected sheep, the defendant had been further lined in a gum of £100. The leirncd counsel for the defendant said that the information did not warrant the first conviction; the second was bud because the offence alleged was for introducing 1900 sheep, instead of expressing thy number at 1800, arguing that the offence could not be divided; or, in other words, that the second conviction had not been legally drawn up. On the side of the Crown, it was contended that the conviction ought to be sustained; inasmuch as.it charged, in the first instance, the distinct offence of introducing 100 infected sheep for which the first fine was £100, and the second ofFimce was for introducing 1800 sheep in excess of 100, for which the eonvietteg magistrate had conformably with the terms of the act, inflicted an additional line of Is. per head. Mr. Cook argued that the charge only constituted one offence. His Honor reserved judgment uut-il Monday, remarking that it was a most important case.

The Bishop of Christchtirch preached in the Episcopal Church yesterday morning.

The competition for population among the different colonies is certainly getting keen. New

South Wales and Queensland, have their immigration lecturers in England, and now we learn from one of our Victorian contemporaries, the i\t. A. Mail, that the Government have decided that four lecturers sh^ll be appointed for Great Britain. London, Liverpool, G.asgow, and Dullin will be the points where each will have an office, and where any information respLosing the colony may be privately obtained. The Melbourne correspondent of the Hamilton Spoc tutor says that no less than COO applications have been sent in. This mass of " application" waa wisely transferred by the Ministry to Mr. .Anderson, the Commissioner of Customs, who having spent a few laborious weeks in examining the testimonials of the various applicants, now rcducts the number to eight, from whom (he Ministry will make their selection.

"We noticed lately that the Government of •Western Australia had offered a reward of £5000 lor the discovering of a payable gold field in that colon}'. The Perth Inquirer of a late date says : S' The offer of £5000 reward for the discovery of a paying gold field has attracted numerous inquiries from miners in Victoria, and one gentleman has arrived from there with the intention of making a thorough examination of the colony."

A singular and distressing accident occurred, on Saturday evening. Mr. lurkpatriek, a forwarding agent, resilient in Dnnedin, was playing at bowls in the Provincial bowlingsaloon, when ho slinped and fell, breaking his leg. He was at once taken into the hotel, and, Dr. Hockcn, who was speedily in attendance^ set the injured limb. We observe that the committee of the Benevolent Institution have decided upon commencing operations with the least possible delay, and that thc3'- propose renting a building for the pnrpose of tin asylum until they can get a proper asylum erected. An advertisement on t!is subject wiJl be found elsewhere.

Thatcher had a good house on Saturday night He introduced a new local song, the subject of which was the recent arrival of passengers from the old country. His morningj concert is announced as postponed until Wednesday, in consequence of the lamented death of Mr. Kettle."

We have received frorii Mr. Aldrich a samp't of the Molyneux coal of sufficient quantity to test its burnin ; capabilities. We have no means of carrying out a:iy exact trial, but we may say that the'coal not only looks well but burils well w'.ien mixed, with wood, and in a proper grate would, evidently make as good a fire as the ordinary English coal, which it more nearly resembles than any Otago coal we have yet seen.