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Southland Times, Issue 1585, 31 May 1872, Page 2

The special coach for the conveyance of the Southland portion of the English mail left Dun- ' edin at 7.15 on Wednesday morning, arriving at Popotunoa the same night 3 started again in half-an-hour, passed the Mataura Bridge in the dark, and reached -the Post Office, Invercargill, at a quarter past ten yesterday morning, thus accom- ', plishing the through journey in twenty-seven' hours, the shortest period in which it has ever been done. Considering the state of the roads, this feat ia highly creditable to the enterprise of the contractor, Mr M'lntyre. We are glad to see that the hint thrown out in a recent issue, as to the necessity of a bridge over the Mataura at Menzies' Ferry, has been taken up by the Provincial Government. Mr Reid stated that the Executive would recommend that a block of land be sot apart for this purpose, whether the motion proposed by Dr Menzies to secure the same object were carried or not. In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, Q. Robertson was charged by Alexander j Sayers with assaulting him in his own house, by violently forcing a door in his face. It appeared that Robertson had gone to Sayera's house to obtain possession of a goat and two kids which; he alleged to be his property, but which were in the possession of the prosecutor. An altercation 1 ensued — violent language was used on both sides — and Sayers ordered Robertson to leave the place, which he refused to do. Sayers then tried to put him out but failed, and in the struggle the door seems to have been pushed in Sayers's faoe. His Worship told Robertson that he had no right to enter Sayers's house against his will, or to make a disturbance there. If he refused to leave, when requested to do so, Sayers was justified in ejecting him by force, and if he resisted, it amounted to an assault. Fined 20s and 5s 6d costs. On Thursday, Sayers v. Mayo and wife> was a claim for £7 10s, amount of commission for effecting a lease of the Provincial Hotel to Mr Patchett, and £7 10s commission valuation of furniture, which Sayers represe nted that he had been retained to value, though he was not allowed to do so when he offered his servicesJudgment for defendants, with costs. E. H. Ingpen was charged yesterday before J. F. Dundas, Esq., J.P., with appropriating the sum of £6 6s, Supreme Court fees. He was committed on this charge, in addition to those on which he iB now awaiting trial. We have never been great admirers of Mr Donald Reid, but we do not think that the Opposition announced as having been organised under the leadership of Mr Shepherd is likely to prove very formidable to that astute politician, even if it should be successful in docking a few joints off the proverbial " tail." That our readers may be able to judge for themselves, we append the names of the gentlemen . who attended thepreliminary caucus :— Messrs Shepherd, Hickey,

Innes, Armstrong, J. C. Brown, G. F. C. Browne, Bastings, and Daniel. Their operations may probably prolong the session of Council a little, involving of course a corresponding increase of the total amount of the honorarium. But perhaps some of these gentlemen see no great harm in this, in the event of their efforts remaining otherwise unrewarded. At the meeting of the Town Council last night, the following tenders were accepted: — Supply of 50 yards gravel, delivered at ! corner of Dee and Spey streets, John Reveney, £6 0s lOd ; re.moval of Engine House and Bell Tower, John Walker, £60. The remainder of the business was of a routine character. We have to acknowledge receipt of files of the Waikato Times, the latest addition to the fourth estate of tho colony. It is a tri- weekly paper, and is very creditably got up. The place of publication is Ngaruawahia, in the province of Auckland. On the evening of Wednesday last, being the bi-monthly night for receiving subscriptions, 88 new shares in the Building Society were issued. We regret to learn from the Gazette that His Excellency has accepted the resignation of Captain Harvey, late of the Invercargill Rifle Volunteers. It has been proposed in the Provincial Council that Block 7, in the town of Riverton, containing three acres, should "be set apart as a reserve for the purposes of recreation. Dr Webster has given notice of a motion for altering the Provincial Executive to a Board consisting of seven members, three to be elected by the Road Boards, one by the Municipalities, one by the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, one by the holders of Gold _ Diggers' Licenses, and one by the Paßtoral Tenants of the Crown. The Select Committee on the Moa Flat sale report that the interests of the district were in- . juriously affected by the sale. It appears that the Government were being urgently pressed by the Bank to reduce the amount of the overdraft, and on the motion of Mr Reid, authority was obtained from the Council to sell 50,000 acres in one or more blocks, but it was added that " full and careful inquiry should be made with a view to prevent the alienation of any land, the sale of which may be, or may be deemed to be, prejudicial to the public interests." .This recommendation the committee are of opinion has not been strictly carried out. The Riverton. Harbor Board Bill/ now passing through the Provincial Council, provides for the constitution of a Harbor Board at that port, in pursuance of powers conferred by the Harbor Boards Act, 1870. The Board is to consist of five persons chosen from the citizens' roll of the Corporation of Riverton. The Mayor will be the first President. Three members form a quorum. The Board may enter into contracts for any ! works connected with the improvement of the harbor, provide ' steam dredges, erect wharves and jetties, and furnish all proper appliances for the accommodation of shipping. The funds, besides endowments in land, arise from harbor and jetty duos, license fees, port charges, pilotage rates, and all other moneyß leviable under the Harbor- Boards Act, 1870. A proclamation in the Gazette of 22nd inst. defines the position of the Invercargill and Mataura Railway, and specifies the lands proposed to be taken for the purposes of the work. The Invorcargill . terminus. Js at the Railway Station, and the line passes through the town by Tyne street. The Mataura terminus is on the east bank of the river opposite the township of Gore. We may mention that the lands through which the line is to pass are described at length in the Gazette, so that parties who may be interested will know where to obtain the information. By the Roads' Diversion Ordinance, the Superintendent is empowered to stop up certain roads and portions of roads, and to sell or exchange the land over which such roads pass, for the purpose of making deviations where the ground affords a better line than the line originally surveyed, and of closi ng road lines which experience has proved to be practically useless. The roads are all described in the schedule to the Ordinance. The only one in the Southland district is the road, about 45 chains long, lying between section 19, block 9, and section 54, block 4, Jacob's River Hundred. The Saturday half-holiday movement in Dunedin is acknowledged to have broken down, nearly all the places of business being open on Saturday last. Telegraphic communication is being gradually extended throughout the colony. The latest addition made to the districts brought under the operation of the electric wire is that of Motueka, in the Province of Nelson, intercourse with which was opened on Tuesday last.' Mr Fereday, of Christen urch, in order to test whether a receipt given for a cheque is liable to duty under the Stamp Act, has given an unstamped receipt in a case of the kind to a person with the request that he would report it to the Government. This was done, and as the Attorney' General's opinion was obtained^ an action has been commenced against Mr Fereday for a breach "of the Act. Mr Fereday (remarks the Lyttelton Times) is confident of Being able to show that the Act does not render it compulsory to stamp receipts for cheques. Mr J. F. Jones, of the Club Hotel, Dunedin, denies, that there is any truth in the. statement circulated by. the Thames Advertiser to the effect that a settlement has been come to with the claimant to the estate of the late Mr Norman. The following are the figures arrived at by the Select Committee of Council on the Winton Railway, showing the nett loss to the Province arising from the abrogation of the contraot :-— 1869, April I—Winton1 — Winton Railway Contract — Amount of Contract price... £17,402 9 6 1870 — April payment on certificate 3,837 6 0 Balance (exclusive of extras) £13,565 3 3 1871, June 14 — Claim of Con- ' tractors (exclusive of current interest) ... ... ... 32,230 16 6 1871, June 21 — Valuation of Engineer ... ... ... 16,151 6 8 1871, December 20 — Award of Arbiters ... £23,452 2 0 Exclusive of £ Arbiters' fees £1,437 16s lOd 718 18 5 Law costs, witnesses and ex- : penses, &c, estimated ... 3,000 0 0 Probable cost to the Province £27,170 0 5

The number of notices of motion on the Order Paper of the Provincial Council on Monday was 121. It is said that tlie lossea from tutu have been unusually heavy amongst the cattle running in the Mataura district this season. From Mr Bell's remarks in the Provincial Council we gather that the very large reduction in tho Provincial overdraft in the^Bank of NewZealand was not purely the result of Mr Reid's desire to discharge the obligations incurred by the Government. The hon. member said he thought the present overdraft should be paid, before voting any more money, as it really was not creditable to the Province to be under the thumb of the bank, or to get such threatening letters as were received last year ! • " ' TVfi- Shepherd has given- notice that he will move in the Council for a return showing f c total cost of making and maintaining the Bluff Harbor and Winton Railway ; and also that the Superintendent be requested to open negotiations with the General Government for the sale of the line. The Gazette contains a list of the reduced rates of commission on telegraph money orders issued and payable in the Colony, which will come into force on June Ist, in addition to the telegraph fee of Is : — For sums not exceeding £1, 4d ; £2, 8d ; £3, Is ; £4, Is 4d ; £5, Is 8d ; £6, 2s j £7, 2s 4d ; £8, 2s 8i ; £9, 3s ; £10, 3s 4d. The high price of labor has caused a stoppage of nearly all the deep claims at Ross, in Westland. The miners refuse to accept £3 10s per week for 10 hours a day or £2 15s for 8 hours. The exceedingly good passage (says the Wellington Independent) made by the Nebraska, shows what may be expected of the San Francisco service' "when worked by efficient steamers. . The Nebraska left San Francisco on the evening of the 27th April, and arrived at Auckland on the 22nd May — being only 25 days on the journey. It is satisfactory to learn that for the future the mails will be carried right through in the same steamer, thus avoiding the vexatious delays and break-downs that hare occurred! through the inefficiency of the boats- hitherto' employed on the San Francisco end of the line. Precious stones, frequently discovered by accident in the most unlikely-looking localities, 1 are (says the Queenslander) more numerous in this colony than many suppose. A correspondent informs us that he found, in the Hawkwood (Burnett) district, some Btbnes hard enough to cut glass. He describes them as of "a white to a light rose color," and supposes that they are diamonds ; but he does not furnish sufficient data on which to form an opinion. Stones of various kinds have recently been picked up on one of the farms at German Station by an amateur connoisseur. Among them are several which cut glass, resist the file, and so forth j and when seen through a powerful lens they contrast strikingly with quartz crystals and the like. They have not yet, however, been pronounced diamonds, whatever may be the result of further tests, but they are evidently of such a character as to excite more than usual interest, especially at the present time. There is no dearth of instruction to collectors, &c, but the following from Slater's 1 Settler's Guide, may be new to some : — " A diamond is the hardest substance in nature, and if a person can, with his suspected gem, scratch a piece of quartz (which is the fourth degree of hardness below a diamond) he may ' rely upon' having found a precious stone at least ; if he possesses a blue, white, or green sapphire, which the 'stranger' can also scratch, he may rest assured that he has found a diamond, because a sapphire is the next hardest substance known to science." At the recent criminal sittings of the Supreme Court at Wanganui, His Honor Mr Justice Johnßton is reported to have said, while referring to the system of Grand Juries : — " The principa^ function of the modern Grand Jury is to act as a tribunal of investigation, preliminary to the trial of persons charged with serious offences. After a long experience I have come to the conclusion that the abolition of Grand Juries in England would comparatively be a desirable object. Where there are so many able stipendiary magistrates, there can hardly occur any great or grave acts of omission which would necessitate the functions of a Grand Jury being called for. The Grand Jury acts as it were as a check upon the actions of the lower tribunals, as in the case of an indictment consequent upon a committal, a variety of circumstances would tend to show that incalculable harm would ensue by placing a man upon his trial whom the jury had no moral doubt was perfectly innocent. In this respect the wholesome check of the jury is not actually visible, except from actual experience. I am of opinion, however, that all caßes of a capital or political nature should be submitted to" the investigation of the Grand Jury, but in all minor cases it would be more desirable to leave them to ■ the committal of the R.M., unless in special cases, in which the judge may deem it necessary or advisable to take the opinion of the Grand Jury. Notwithstanding the disagreeable wea ther, the Theatre was well attended on Wednesday evening. The favorable reports published of Mr Hasel • mayor's^ entertainments, and of his extraordinary skill as a conjuror, were proved to be by no means exaggerated. To give anything like a description of the astonishing feats performed is out of the question. They must ba seen to be understood, or rather to obtain an idea of them — understanding them is another matter." The audience seemed to be highly pleased with the dexterity displayed, hoarty plaudits being frequently ac corded to the performer. The manipulation of the " stylocarfe" showed that the Professor is a thorough master of this strange instrument, the music produced being of a very pleasing nature. The performances of the trained canaries and white mice were wonderful. But the feature of the evening's entertainment was the goblin drum, whose intelligibility entirely baffled the ingenuity of the audience to acoount for. The jdrum was placed on a stand in the midst of the audience, and the Professor, standing on the stage, made it answer whatever questions he chose to put, a single beat standing for " yes," and silence for " no." Dice were taken among the audience, and the drum, at the Professor's command, not only rev ealed the numbers which had been thrown, but predicted them beforehand. Two of the audience were requested to write down live figures on separate pieces of paper, which they were allowed to retain without inspection, and the drum at once- disclosed the exact figures in regu lar order, as well as giving the total of the

two sums added together. One noticeable feature was the absence of the usual glittering display o conjuring apparatus, which lent an air of reality to the different performances. On last evening, as on the preceding, the weather was exceedingly unfavorable. There was nevertheless a very good house, the lower part being fairly filled, with a sprinkling upstairs. In the case of those visitors who had evidently been present on the previous evening, there was no lack of interest or apparent satisfaction, while as to the rest, the performances were thoroughly enjoyed. By the judicious change of portions of the programme, all feeling of staleness was prevented, and 'the new _piece3 introduced were equally clev.er in their way with their predecessors. The performing birds and mice came in as before for a large share of the applause, and the Professor^ frequent lively and humorous remarks, if tbey did not (as we suspect they did) materially assist him in hia deve* deceptions, did much to render the eventing enjoyable. We can confidently recommend our readers to go and judge for themselves, as we feel assured that the Professor's entertainment will give the utmost satisfaction to all who patronise it. There is an entire change of programme every evening. To-night will be intro 'uced the performance of "The Carnival of Venice," with a common clothes-brush, on the pianoforte. The mid-day entertainment on Saturday is to be specially adapted for children and families. : - . j