Untitled

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 25, 4 January 1864, Page 2

Holiday times have brought a golden harvest tothe Theatre RoyaL On New Year's, and the following Saturday night, every s^a* ia the house .had its Offcupant. Indeed, it is very questionable if the more legitimate theatrical entertainments of the season — the pantomime and the burlesque - — would draw larger audiences than Thatcher's local songs, and Madame Vitelli'a vocal performances. A judicious addition to tho entertainment has been made by the engagement of Mr Leeman, whose fine . bass voice is of great service in the glees and madrigals which are now introduced' Recent events, such as the. Caledonian Games, the trip to Stewart's Island by one steamer on Christmas Day, the postponed trip to the same place on New Tear's Day by another steamer, and other local incidents, have been humorously versified by Thatcher, and each happy hit at some celebrity or other is received with roars of laughter. Madame Vitelli also improved the occasion by an introduction of some of the best of the Scottish ballads, and by a very pretty song on the Old and New Yoar. A well-conducted orchestra, under the leadership of Mr Alfred Oakey, for accompanying the singers, and for the performance of overtures, is not the least of the attractions of the theatre. From the TT'onie News we hear that the inconve. niences of crinoline hare been found so great in the Staffordshire Potteries that tho principal manufacturers have forbidden the use of crinolines on their premises during the hours of work. In one shop alone the losses by breakages of articles swept down by them amounted to ?' 200 a-year. The workshops became too small, and the work was impeded. Tho workwomen have submitted to the "change with almost entire unanimity and goodwill, and now enter upon their work in garments like those of Greek statues. "We (Hobart Town Mercury) regret to hear that the apple crop is expected to be much below the average in Huon and Brown's River districts (Tasmania), owing to the prevalence of the blight. In the Huon district, the fruit had formed, but this was followed by heavy rains, and then sunshine, whereby the trees appear to have lost much of their fruit.. In the Brown's River district, the trees appear to have been attacked before the formation of the fruit, and the failure will be much more general. Mr Hall, near Kingston, in the Brown's River District, does not calculate upon more than one hundred bushels of apples this year, in place of five hundred, which has been his usual quantity. We have also, seen some few trees in the neighborhood of Hobart Town, which have been stripped by the blight. But that was in exposed situations, and is not by any means general." On Saturday, at the supplementary sports which vere given on the ground used at the Caledonian Gathering, a serious- accident occurred to a little boy wijose name we could not ascertain. He was -standing close to, some men, . one of whom was trying to to-ss the caber, which fell on one side, and before the boy could run out of the way, the eilS 6t -the" heavy piece of : wood struck him on the head, ae^stiog a very nasty-looking scalp wound. - From *the 'ArgitS'Sre learn that?' Among the late arrivals is Mr-Perring, a gentleman from the London Polytechnic, who has been engaged, in conjunction with :Professor .Pepper in popularising science. He Las brought ►*7ith him the whole of the apparatus necessary for the production of the agreeable and instructive ;en<tertajnments given at the London Polytecknic, including the -Ghost.'" The return match at cricket between the Married and Single Elevens did not come off, -as<fixpected, on New Year's Day, in consequence, we und»r- . 6tand, of Bome.mal-arrangement in the- list of the; names of the " Benedicts." A scratch match ; . was, however," made on the ground, and a very-— well-contested game was. the result. It has been arranged "definitely that the - Victorian Parliament will re-assemble for the despatch of business on the 26th of next month, arid the session, which terminates in July— the Parliament then. expiring by effluxion of time— is expected to be a busy one, several important mearures, including a now Land Act and a bill to regulate mining matters having been promised on behalf of the Government. New Year's Day was observed as a holiday by the Government offices, the banks, and by all the business places in town. On Saturday, also, the town had the appearance of suffering a recovery' from the previous day's festivities, as many -ef the principal warehouses and shops were closed during ; the day, while their proprietors were away at picaids or other out-of-door amusements. - The Geelong correspondent of the Argu* states , thai — " On Saturday, the 12th ultimo, the body of a Chinaman was found lying dead in a house near the Botanical Garden Hotel, Malop street. The deceased, it appeared, hud lived in the place-.for-some'■time, with a mate, also a Chinaman. Neither of them had beep seen since Tuesday last ; the mate, on that day. having gone to Melbourne. The people in the neighborhood had their attention directed to the fact of the door of the house having been closed since Tuesday — no one having been seen to enter or leave the place— and also to an intolerable stedch proceeding from it The door was burst open, and the dead body of the deceased found lying- is the last stage of decomposition, it being a perfect mass of maggots. An inquest was held on the remains, and from the evidence givan it seemed certain that the deceased had locked' himself in, and then committed suicide by strangling himself with a cravat. s A verdict to this effect was returned by the jury. The deceased was very poor, and * there was no reason but that mode apparent as likely to cause him to commit the rash act," '

I inte^ hdeliyCredOn Saturday /faight, Wthe-MecliaTiics'/Inl stUiiteJ, by J.*^H|Hume^who, frb>ji7£w!tnanner of treating the very jcuribiisVtheory 6f/"phrendlogyi is/evidently mas ter bf <■ the: sulject^|&t t he.terrai| 'nation of the/lectur elj^few/ " hendsajf .' thepe.iple-', I present Yrere --examined) and their different pro« j pensities and sympathies indicated by the lecturer, I with an accuracy which appeared toastonish thcin . [We see l&ftt : Mr Hiitne' intends makirig'a' snort j/stay(here, for tho purpose of "supplying: charts 'of 'the heads ofianyp'eraons'requiring-hisphrehologi- !; caL'mnnipitlation: ; 7*We": db--Bot r "doubt;batrjmjanj. . wili,embrace;thq opportunity-of making^themselves 'more /thorpughiy'acquaintecr with their true dispositions/ .. ; " ; .,'.-' Ar .' 7-;'7; . • : '-A \j i The following instance of devotion, by which the 'life of -a Maori chief : was preserved by" thel t^t of p'niiwlfe. at the loss of "her i own, during the late storming of Rangiriri, is' related "by the New\Zeat land Herald. " The chief Ngnkapa, of-the Ngatiwhauaunga^tribcV yas/ one of 'the fighting men in -the Rangiriri redoubti and "with him was his wife Rangiura, as indeed 'many other women .were present and' fell on' the/Occasion, remaining in the rear and loading the guns, while those they' had •justioaded were being fired by tlieir husbands. .During the engagement.Sangiura, seeing a soldier level his rifle at her husband,.-jat once, and; with" the- quick instiriet ;of; affection, threw herself in ifrontbf him, "and received the bulfftt in her own breast. Ngak.apa. escaped unhurt. This brave woman who thus^sacr'ificea herself for her husband was tho daughter of -a celebrated chief, 2 ' Te-Aiora* roa, of the same tribe, the Ngatiwhktiaunga." . The -•' ho w-not- to-do-it " policy ofiome Government departments seems to be the fashion in Otago,; The Otago -Times referring to it, says: — " The Government seems in some respects to have taken a leaf out of the book of the Town Board. The letter of our Waikouaiti correspondent gives a woful account of the remissness of the authorities, in carrying out theu publio works, the, money for which ALaa absolutely . been voted; ' The traffic along the .Great Northern Road,. now absolutely depends on the. good nature of private proprietors, who having signified their willingness to give the land necessary to form a road, are naturally disinclined to have their land cufc.up whilst nothing is being done towards making the .road. Again, the making the road through the township tothePort, the money for which was voted by the Council, has not been commenced, late as is the season." On Saturday, a. considerable number of persons visited ihe ground, on which the Caledonian Gathering had been held on the previous day. A variety of sports and games — such as racing, leapi a fTS jumping, &c, were improvised, and afforded considerable amusement to those present. Charles Dickens gives the following experience of the late earthquake in England, in a letter to tho Times .- — ''Sir,— As you may think any accurate observation of theshock of ear thq" -> If- "Tiirir was felt in various pr.ts of /England last Tuesday morning- worth publishing, I send you mine. I was awakened by a violent swaying of my bedstead from side to side, accompanied by a singular heaving motion. It was exactly as if some great beast had been crouching asleep under the bedstead, aud was now shaking itself and trying to rise. The time by my watch was twenty minutes past three, and I suppose the shock to have lasted nearly a minute. The bedstead, a large iron one, standing nearly north and south, appeared to me to be the only piece of furniture in the room that was heavily shaken. Neither the doors nor the windows rattled, though they rattle enough in windy weather, this house standing alone, on high ground, in the neighborhood of two great rivers. There was no noise. The air was very still, and much warmer than it had been in tho earlier part of the, night. Although the previous afternoon had been wet; the glass had not fallen. I had mentioned my surprise at its standing near the letter " i " in -'F.iir," and .having a tendency to rise. It is recorded.; in-tne second volume of the *' Philosophical Transactions," that the glass' stood high at Oxford wheiv an earthquake was felt there in September, -IffiS. — Your faithful servant, Charles Dickens. Gad'shill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent, Oct: 7." . The men who are in custody on the charge of robbing the manager cf the Bank of New Zealand of nino hundred pounds; on the track between the Dunstan. and the Nevis are certain of being committed. When arrested, they stated that they had come direct from Campbell's Creek. However, Detective Cassell has succeeded in finding two men who can swear to Parker, and that at between seven and eight o'clock on the morning of the robbery, they met hira going up a hill within half a mile of the scene of the robbery. The mates of the men have suddenly disappeared, and the police are after them in every direction Several robberies have been committed, and Parker has been identified as one of the " stickers«p" : .