SYDNEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 316, 24 December 1862, Page 5

SYDNEY

(moM otjr ow# cobuespoxbent.) *"'" Bth December, 18G8. _ with the exception at' considerable discussion on tiie reduction of the item -for the Pilot Board, during which Mr Dalgleish charged the Board with having neglected its duty in not inquiring into the causes of the, late wrecks •- the discharge from the paper of the UpPer House Bill ; and the passing, of I a number of unimportant bills, the political news may be set down as nil. Not so, however, with that department of news which may be denominated social. In the first place, there has been, of course, " another outrage," and another, and another, " One woe doth tread upon another's heels, so fast they follow." Stickings up are becoming so rife in the colony, that they now create no surprise, and are almost, in fact, too v numerous to mention." What the police are about up the country, we do not know, but certainly it is quite time some alteration was made in the management of that department of the public service. A considerable degree of interest hasl been excited by some correspondence relative to a person named Melville, a resident of Maitland, and an alleged lunatic, who has appealed against his confinement in* the Lunatic Asylum, and states that he invites inquiry, and challenges any person to prove that he is'not perfectly sane. The case will doubtless receive the fullest investigation. Then there is the case of another person, a reporter for one of the northern papers, who certainly (if the reports in the papers be correct), ought to be placed where Mr Melville says he is unjustly kept. It appears that the genius, who had been to Scone, was made the butt ot a practical jest, by being introduced to a person calling himself Gardiner the bushranger, and invited to join in a " sticking-up" expedition, which invitation he accepted, and positively wept out with the intention of perpetrating a highway robbery in company with his (supposed) notorious friend. The Pilot Board,—what did I say ? the Pilot Board I there is no Pilot Board, the whole of that effective branch of the service have tendered their resignation (some people, say, not before it was time.) in consequence ot "the lute discussions in Parliament and by the Press, relative to the Sea Witch. The topic which has most engrossed public attention" has been, however, an action brought by a woman named Warner (the wife of a Capt: Warner, not unknown in the Xew Zealand trade)' against a Mr Richard Tharae, of the firm of Thame and Page, grocers, of this city, for the maintenance oi' an illegitimate child. After several days spent in the examination of witnesses for the plaintiff, who gave evidence to show that he was the father, and of the defendant, and his witnesses who swore that he was not, nor could be so, the Bench decided against him. Another 'case which has scarcely less interested the public mind, is the case of an action brought, in the first place, by the lie.'. M. Watt, a Presbyterian minister, against Mr Flett, M.L.A,, for slander ; Mr Flett having stated that the rev. gentleman was living at a low oyster saloon near the Lyceum Theatre, with" a common woman of the town, and was otherwise "on the loose." The rev, gentleman, thereupon brought an action against Mr. Flett, and although sworn distinctly to by a number of reliable and highly respectable witnesses, persisted on oath, iv his innocence. The case was, however, too clear, and the Rev. M. Watt is now serving five years on the roads, having been convicted on the most unmistakable evfdence of direct perjury. The city is only just recovering lrom the excitement attendant on an, election of a number of new Aldermen. Mr Alexander Moore, auctioneer, an old and highly respected inhabitant, is returned for Macquarrie Ward; and Mr George Huley, warehouseman, for Brisbane Ward, the others stand as they did before. A new weekly illustrated paper, of the nature of the celebrated New York Ledger, or the London Journal and Family Herald, has been started by Messrs Brown and Whitworth, the latter a literary gentleman of some repute in the colony; and bids fair to prove successful, and deservedly so. Three numbers are already out, and. the Magazine seems to be growing in public estimation. The weather still continues very hot and unhealthy, and it is feared that the long-con-tinued drought will be extremely prejudicial to the growing crops, many of which have heen already ruined for lack of rain, and by the ravages of the caterpillars. Cricket is again in the ascendant, and the various clubs are continually practising for the coining intercolonial matches. The Philharmonic So^ cietyhave given their second concert of {he season with considerable success. Mr Holt, M.L.A., gave a picnic a few days since, on a very large scale, to the Volunteer forces, at his residence at Newtown. The whole of the prisoners tried and sentenced by Mr Justice Carey, at the late Mudgee Sessions, will have to be discharged, in consequence of their not having been asked in due form if they had anything to say why the sentence of the Court should not be passed on them according to law. At the Lachlan a melancholy accident has occurred. Mr H. Plarper, a merchant of Sydney, was thrown out of his buggy and killed on the spot. :

The theatres are both m diflfereat business. At the Victoria a vamped up edition of the; " Peep o' Day Boy" has been playing. At the Lyceum the usual "blood and fury" pieces predominate. Some little excitement in the world theatrical was caused a few nights since by the seamen and officers of H.M'SL Niger giving an amateur entertainment at the Victoria. The house was well attended.