THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi WEDNESDAY, EEBRUARY 16, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3787, 16 February 1881, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi WEDNESDAY, EEBRUARY 16, 1881.

Chivalrous Mr Dean, in a letter to the Advertiser^ comes to the rescue of the Mayor, and, willingly taking, all the blame, tries to shield his chief for the muddle made over the Harbour Board* election. In his letter he says the voting on the day in question was a very peculiar style, but it wbb not voting by ballot, for voting by..ballot is voting privately or secretly, and the voting was not privately or secretly. We will give Mr Dean the meaning of the word ballot given by Nuttall —a little ball, ticket, or anything used to give asecret vote, the act or practice of voting by balls or tickets. The object was secrecy that the proposes intended, and yet Mr Dean says it was not private or secret. If not what was the object in using papers so frequently ? Well; well, your intentions are very honorable Mr Dean, but your case is a very bad one. Let tbe Mayor alone, in his own opinion he has done no wrong. Mbs Hampson, who has been doing Buch good by her revivalistic services on the Thames, leaves for Auckland to-morrow morning. Me Or. T. Wilkinson, native agent, with commendable promptitude, wrote a letter to the Ngutikoe tribe stating to them the steps taken by the Government in the murder case, and advising them to remain quiet. He has had assurances from the relatives of the murdered man that his wishes will ba carried out. Mb Keneick left for Coromandel this morniog. It is said the authorities attacked have sent a copy of the Star containing a letter eigned by Mr'Brassey to the Government, and with a full report upon the circumstances under which the Resident Magistrate undertook the duties of Coroner on the murder case. A public prayer meeting will bo held in the G-rahamstown Wesleyan Methodißt Church this evening, commencing at seven o'clock. Mb Cojiee, the manager of the Moanatairi mine, requires tenders for driving 120 feet. The Warden notifies a number of applications for licenses for goldmining purposes. The editor of our contemporary, who by mistake has been placed in the civic chair, has pot realised the anticipation of that poet who, on the; day following tbe Mayoral election, extolled the praises of " step and fetch, it" in the morning howler,',and intimated that the new Mayor's motto was, ''Truth shall, be: his guiding light." What 1 the editor of our contemporary has said or done in the past to justify him placing such a motto beneath■■•his crest (which, by the bye, is two thistle eaters on field vert aspectant, tails erect, surmounted by an arm issuant holding whip flectant), we utterly fail to Bee, and we are, moreover, certain that the Mayor has done nothing to gain him a reputation for extraordinary veracity. Tbe letter from '•,One w&Vwat present" is clearly His Worship's work, as none of, the\CQuncillors would lend themselves to write a^ch tjsjue of falsehoode—aud we are in a position to state

that they did not do so—merely for the purpose of backing him up in his blundering action at the Council meeting. Another thipg that clearly points to the Mayor being the writer of tbe epistle is the following extract from his letter :—" The ' vituperative malignity ' I am accused of exists in the scurrilous reference to my letter yesterday, and is again Been in another column of last night's issue, where statements exactly contrary to fact are made in order to make goori a base attempt to b jure a business rival." la our local yesterday we referred to the proprietor of our contemporary as being guilty "vituperative malignity," and here we find the proprietor saying, " I am accused," &c, which is one proof that he is the author of this splendid effusion. Another proof is that the business concerns of our contemporary are not of such an extensive character as to warrant an outsider in taking up the cudgels on its behalf, and no one but a madman or the present Mayor would write such infantile twaddle for the edification of the public.

This morning Mr G. T. Wilkinson proceeded to the Towers to interview Wikiriwhi, who had returned yesterday from the Ngatihako settlement —having been present at tbe tangi over the murdered man. His report was that nothing of a violent character had been said, and that the natives would await the result of the enquiry into Pocoffy's case. This morning Pineaha, the chief of the Ngatihako tribe, came down expressly to report to Mr Wilkinson upon the feeling of his tribe, and he also saya nothing will be done by the natives till the result of the trial is known, and if the murder is proved against some person they will be satisfied.

Dcs Huxtable and Kilgour were engaged yesterday and to-day in making a microscopical examination of the clothes found in the teat of the prisoner Procoffy. Up to the time we went to preas, no report had been ■ent into the police.

We understand that Mrs Hampaon has given some fittings to our local photographers, Messrs Foy, and that the profits proceeding from the sale of the likenesses will be divided between the Ladies' Benevolent Society and the Hospital. We hope the result will be considerable.

Foe the edification of our readers we reprint the following, which appeared in the Advertiser on tbe day after Mr Wilkinson's election to tbe Mayoralty. In the present case the poet; turns out to have been singularly unhappy in .his flight of imagination: — Hail the time with joyful lay, See another worthy son, Born of Saxon's line, to-day Take the seat hy merit won ; Chief, where justice reins supreme, He her spotless robes shall wear ; Grace in all his acts shall beam,

To adorn the civic chair; Ready at each public call, Favouring none, but just to all. Weave the wreath and bind hia brow, Wilkinßon haß triumphed now. Truth shall he his guiding light When in judgment he decrees; What discretion deems the right, Not the clam'rous crowd to please ; • As like one by Heaven ordained, Vice to chasten, virtue shield, Feared by hearts corruptly steined, Praised where goodness shines revealed. He, compeer among the beat, Fame tvith honour shall invest. Weive the wreath and bind his brow. Wilkinson has triumphed now. ■ \ Wealth of hand and wealth of heart, Help for need and sense to charm, Like a prince will he impart; Friends delight and foes disarm, While esteemed for social worth Mental pcvweb in him shall blend; Zeal with force to image forth Excellence that shall not end 'Till life's guerdon be has won, And receives the mead ivell done ! . Weave the wreath and bind his brow, Wilkinson has triumphed now. A paragraph in the Auckland Star of Monday's da(e is calculated to do great injury to the Rev. V. Lush. * The local refers to the sham way in which a certain building in Queen street had been erected. The removal of the British Hotel exposed the mode in which a parapet of the building in question had been sustained, and the writer immediately proceeds to cast a certain amount of blame upon the Rev. V. Lush, who is stated to be the owner. Now the facts of the case are that several years ago the nllofcrnent in question without any building upon it was leased by Mr Lush to a person named Hare for a term of 28 years, so that ib is absurd to say because Mr Lush receives a small sum for ground rent that; he is responsible for the construction of the building his tenant erects upon hi 6 ground. We make this explanation injustice to our esteemed citizen, the Rev. V. Lush.

The Poverty.Bay Standard eaya:—" Our observant readers will notice some few differences between our report of the County Council proceedings this morning, and that of our contemporary on Saturday morning last. Wo have carefully compared ours with the minutes of the Council, and cm answer for their correctness. We do not call attention to this matter in order to disparage the Herald's reporting; but for the purpose of explaining where the incorrectness lies. It is almost impossible for any reporter to catch the flying shots of business which are carried on for some bourß in a conversational tone,' not unmixed with jokes, tobacco, and a little conviviality. Motions, amendments, and counter-amendments, pour, in by the soore ; members jump up-and.down, many times, interjecting T remarks on the same question, until such a Babel of sounds takes place, as to render it difficult to state at the conclusion how matters stand. As this is the almost invariable practice, we suppose the Council is always in Commiotee, hence the confusion, and inaccuracies of 'newspaper reports." Gisborne is not the only place where this peculiarly rash manner of conducting public meetings is in vogue. We could mention meetings held of other local bodiea when the business, is rushed in an equally perplexing manner. The best thing that's come to me yet in connection with the visit of the Australian Eleven is as follows:—Two visitors to the ground, who might have had a nip or two, were examining the sooting board : " Well Bill," said the most screwed of the two, " there's no use staying here any more. The excitement, is ail out of this thing." " How's thafc P " aaid hh mate. " Why there's 42 out for 4 runs. Id's a regular furco.'' Exeunt.

It's wonderful, when you come to think over it, how very shaky some paper men are en their geography. Here is an example from the leading sporting paper in America:—" J. O'Connor, ' champion of New Zealand,' performed the feat of walking seven miles within the hour at the Oddfellowa Hall, Christcharch England." There is a little place called Chrißtchurch in England, but how any one oould-mistake for a wealthy metropo.'is like this town ii extraordinary.

Mb Spmta-JEOI* haa preached at Invercargill twice to" immense congregations. His style as a preacher is conversational, and free from rant or twang.

Achtatjon h'.is been commenced among the women of Ireland, headed.lbji Miss Parnell, for the purpose of advocating the claims of the,.lrish ( ]jand League. Meetings are being held, at which inflammatory harangues are made in support of the movements f * ■-,

A EEPOBT reached town to-day that the native village at Parihaka had been destroyed by fire. We have traced the report to Ruakere, of Tuihua, who told Mr W. Bayly. Ruakere states that a bush fire had ignited some of the wharc^, and the whole of the village with the ( exception of Te Whiti's house had been consumed. We give the report as ife reaches us, but no doubt it is greally exaggerated. —TaranaUi Herald.

''I hatb," writes a correspondent of the Cambridge (North Island) paper, " known of the editorial craft going into all manner of attitudes, sober and insane, but the following is the first attempt I have ever heard of one going into Holy Orders. It appears as an nnouncement in-u contemporary, and reads as follows :—' An ex-editor of the Waikato Mail is studying for the Weslejan Ministry."'

Tht? Herald correspondent says :—I am informed that the Governor has decided not to vioit the South Island for some months, instead of leaving almost immediately, as previously intended. The reason for the change of plan is Baid to be a letter from Lady Gordon to the effect that her arrival in the colony will be postponed. She waa expected early in March, i"

The effigy of the Hon J. Hall was burned at Waitahuna a few days ago, because of the removal of the post and telegraph office to Bulclutha.