Local and General.

Electoeali. — Mr J. T. Peacock announces that he has resigned his seat in the House of Representatives for the town of Lyttelton.

The Late Fiee. — Yesterday the workmen employed at the site of the late fire succeeded by the aid of a strong chain and -winch in pulling down, the front wall. A considerable portion of the side-walls was also removed.

Papeb-MAKING. — A movement is on foot in Christchurch with the object of starting a Company for the manufacture of paper. So far, the projectors have been encouraged to persevere in their efforts.

Stbbet-cbossing. — The employes of the City Council have been engaged in laying an iron pipe culvert to carry off the water afc the crossing from Cathedral square to the Bank of New Zealand corner. This is another street improvement which the public will greatly appreciate. Public Health Act. — In a Provincial Government Gazette, dated April 4, clauses 16, 17, and 18 of this Act are published for general information. The clauses refer to the duties of local Boards of Health, medical practitioners, and householders upon the appearance of infectious disease in any house or locality.

Ebgisteae's E.KTUEN3. — The following are the returns for the month ending March 31, as published in., a Provincial G-overninent Gazette issued, yesterday : — Births : Males 49, females 42, total 91. Deaths, city of Chrislchurch : Males 14, females 16, total 30. Country district — Malea 9, females 11, total 20 ; total for town and country, 50. Marriages : 22. Returns for corresponding month of 1872 :— Births, 84 ; Deaths, city of Christchurch, 33; country districts, 28; total 61. Marriages 18. i The Nbw Zealand Shipping Company. —Mr E. Prosßer, who is a candidate for the vacant seat in the Otago Provincial Council caused by the resignation of Mr E. B. Cargill, addressing a meeting of the Dunedin citizens, said he had taken an active part in connection with tho matter of shipping to the ports of New Zealand. Three or four months ago, with other mercantile men, he advocated the starting of a skipping company, so that ultimately we might have our ships to carry our goods from England here, and derive a large amount of profit now made upon ships by English owners. He was glad to be able to inform, the meeting that although they had 1 not succeeded in forming a company here, yet they had co-operated with a Canterbury company, and had formed a company to put on lines of vessels to Now Zealand ports, with .a present capital of £100,000, but vrhich it was proposed to increase to £225,000 ; and there would be no reason why the company, if it thought proper, should not lay on a lino of steamers to Port Chalmers, as had been intimated by many persons in this province, particularly by tho Superintendent, f here would be no reason why this company should not take up that matter, and bring steamers out to Otago. It waa only a question of expense— whothor, in fact, it would pay ti do that. No doubt the time would comt when we should have direct steamers from London and other parts of Great Britain t< this province. Ho alluded to this matter U show that co-operation of this kind with Can torbury would tend to allay petty jealouaie.existing here and elsewhere hitherto, and hi tiiovefora congratulated' tke citizens upon even the small Btep to he referred.

AccilHATiSAi!iOK.— Mr Billa, who arrived from Nelson on Wednesday laafc, brought with him 119 skylarks and 3 Calif ornian quail, which were liberated at the Acclimatisation Gardens on the following day. WESLByAK.— The Eev A. B. Fitchett will preach a sermon in the Durham street ohurch to-morrow evening on " Spirits' Agency in Human Affairs." A telegram was received yesterday stating that the Bey J. Buller sailed for Canterbury in the Nebraska yesterday, and he may therefore be expected here towards the latter end of next week. New Indttstby. — Mr B. Webb, Caledonian road, who is comparatively a recent arrival from England, has established a new industry which may be termed fretwork carving in wood. Several good specimens of his workmanship may be seen at Mr J. T. M. Smith's shop, Colombo street, and they are well worthy of inspection. They comprise, card baskets, brackets, photograph stands, paper knives, and many other useful articles which display taste in design and skill in execution. Gaol BETUBNB. — The Chief-Gaoler's returns for the past month are to hand, showing the number of incarcerations during that period to have been Christchurch, 36 males and 18 females ; Lyttelton.. 79 males ; and Timaru, 14 males. Of the Christchurch males 34 were at hard labour, and 2 ordinary imprisonment j the females being 17 at hard labour, and 1 for contagious disease. The Lyttelton batch comprised 10 for trial at the Supreme Court, 59 at hard labour, 5 ordinary imprisonment, 2 lunatics, and 3 debtors ; whilst the Timaru prisoners were, 1 for trial at the Supreme Court, 12 at hard labour, and 1 ordinary imprisonment. The discharges during the month were — Christchurch, 21 ; Lyttelton, 17 ; and Timaru, 3. The following extract from a private letter received from Captam Stackpole, of the ship Shannon, gives some idea of the fearful weather which prevailed in the North Atlantic during last December : — " We had monotonously fine weather from Melbourne all the way round the Horn to the N.E. trades, then a few days calms and light airs. On the night of *the 20th December the weather looked very threatening, with a falling glass, the wind increasing to a gale. Sale was shortened to lower topsails and reefed foresail, the ship then doing good running. This continued to noon the following day, the glass down to 28*40, when we were struck by a blast of wind which laid the ship on her beam ends, blowing every bit of canvas away. For 48 hours she lay with her lee yardarms and lee boats in the water, blowing with such fury as I have never seen. Two of the boats were blown out of the davits. You may imagine that the passengers were greatly excited and alarmed, and no wonder, the force of the wind being able to lay the ship over in that manner without so much as a rag of canvas set, not even the clew of the storm staysail. I was seriously 1 thinking of cutting away some of the spars. At 2 a.m. a tremendous sea struck us, clearing the poop, smashing the skylights, and filling the cuddy with water, one of the midshipmen — Mr Milne— >being swept away, assistance being out of the question. The main deck covering board was started up some 2in. or 3in. in the lee side, quantities of water : going below. Booby hatches and the front of tho cuddy were also smashed in. I assure you lam not the least exaggerating when I Bay the water was half-way up the poop deck. There have seldom been known such scenes of disaster and force of wind. From the Azores to the Channel the scene of wreck was something painful — whole deck-houses, bows, sterns, spars, boats, <tc, with occasional bodies — it was truly frightful to behold, and thankful we were all to tho Almighty for bringing us and the good ship through it in safety." — Argus, March 17. The Melbourne Leader says : — lt would seem that while we are anxiously discussing the best means of keeping up postal communication with the rest of the world, the rest of the world is just as busy with concocting schemes for facilitating their means of intercourse with ourselves. Shipowners both in England and America appear to be vying with each other for securing our traffic. A project has been often talked about for running a line of powerful steamers between Liverpool and Melbourne; but this time the promoters seem to be in earnest. I A meeting of influential capitalists was held at the former place, in which Mr Bright, of Bright, Gibbs, and Co., put the object and the prospects of the proposed company in a very flattering light. The object is to build a fleet of ships of 5000 tons register, at a cost of £170,000, and run them between Melbourne and Milford Haven. Tho service would be monthly, and the time to be occupied in the passage not more than forty days. Whether the proposal ever gets beyond this stage or not, one thing it demonstrates, that the idea of a Cape service occupying not more than 45 days at the outside presents nothing impracticable to shipowners at homo. In connection with this scheme may bo read another project which has beon started by a San Franciscan firm having Australian customers in view for a 12---knot service to bo performed by English-built iron propellers. The immediate people who are to be served by it are our neighbours in New South Wales, who would be placed on a rival footing with New Zealand, for whose benefit Mr Webb runs his steamers. Whether Mr Parkes could induce his Parliament to look favourably upon the offer as against the claims of any lecal company, remains to be seen. But the offer itself is a sign of a favourable disposition on the part of strangers i-o compete for Australian patronago in large jommercial projects. Perhaps we ought to •emind our readers that, in addition to those claimants for our trade and traffic, the Dutch i^-overnmont have subsidised a line of steaiiera to make six voyages yearly between •Java and Melbourne, in correspondence with ■i branch line plying between Singapore and Java. ~ 1

Theatbk Boyal. — The company now playing at the Theatre must be accounted some- , what ambitious in attempting Shakespeare. It is certainly not their forte, and although last night's performance of " Borneo and Juliet " might have been much worse, public favour would be more certainly gained by adhering , to high comedy and light dramas. Mrs Hill's Juliet gave evidence of careful study, and was on the whole a creditable effort. In the ( balcony and chamber scenes she was success- , ful, but in the tomb scene the result was widely different. It may be said, indeed, that [ the whole of it, so far as concerned the two principal characters, was a failure. Mr Douglas' impersonation of Romeo was throughout unlike what it ought to be, and in the : tomb scene, his acting must have been painful to any one familiar with the drama. Mr | ATusgravo's Capulet was a finished piece of acting, the scene where he tells his daughter ' Juliet to prepare for marriage with Count ' Paris being particularly good : yet we should | have preferred to ace him in the part of Friar Lawrence. Miss Mathews' rendering of the nurse was one of her best efforts, and Mr 1 Hill's JPeter was also good. Mr Hesford's ' reading of Friar Lawrence showed a thorough : ■ appreciation of Shakespeare, but his acting j 1 was deficient. The other characters were fairly ' sustained. To-night tho bill includes two new ' pieces, which promise amusement. ', Pbacticaii. — It is related that not long ago L a well-known town crier, more practical than precise, announced the approaching appearI auce of a popular performer thus : — " Oh, ' yes! Oh, ye 3! On Thursday night Miss ( R C . will sing in the Town Hall, ' What the wild waves are a-saying of.' " ; , Earth Closets. — Since the earth closet [ system was commenced in Auckland, no less than 600 closets have been constructed upon , that principle. The new form of clcfeets gives satisfaction to all who try it. The, cost of construction is very moderate, about 9s, , and for clearing, once a fortnight, 13a a ' year. [ Music at Beefton. — The Herald says :• — Some public benefactor, with a view to waking ' up Reefton fram its slumbering condition, has ] conceived the happy idea of introducing a strolling band of serenading goats, who seem, judging from their severe appeal to our sympathies to have been ruthlessly torn from the bosoms of their respective families. The voice of an evil-intentioned goat thus afflicted when pitched in that distressful key which haunts one's very dreams, is eertainljr impressive. Mr Dempster, a settler at Esperance, in the southern part of "Western Australia, had an encounter with a native who had robbed one of his shepherds' huts, taking from it rations^ gun, and ammunition. Mr Dempster followed him with two native trackers, and the first notice they received of being in his vicinity was a gunshot,, which mortally wounded one of the trackers-. The fellow, after a second shot, which wounded Mr Dempster on the head and neck, endeavoured to wrest a doublebarrelled gun from the other tracker, upon which Mr Dempster shot him dead. He proved to be a man who. had travelled some time since to Eucla Bay in Mr Muir's service. The following is a return of the cost of New Zealand lighthouses during the year 1871-72 :— Tiri Tiri, £522 6s 8d; Farewell Spit, £713 0s 6d ; Nelson, £239 5s 2d - r Mana Island, £517 12s 2d ; Pencarrow Head, £605 19s 8d; Cape Campbell, £551 17a lid; Gtodley Head, £4.09 15s 2d; Tairoa Head, £452 8s 5d ; Nugget Point, £506 12b 4d ; Dog Island, £1150 83 7d. It is curious to note the great variety in th& cost of maintenance. This is doubtless accounted for by the varied difficulty of access. The amount voted for the marine department for the financial year 1871-72 was £10,175. The sum expended has been £7308 6s. The amount of fees collected under the Steam Navigation Act, the Merchant Ships' Officers Act, and sale of charts was £591 13s 6d. The Government officers of Liverpool have issued their usual annual return of the exodus from the Mersey during last year. It appears that tho total number of ships which sailed under the Act was 447, with 185,743 passengers. The number of short ships was 340, with 10,033 passengers, making a total of 787 ships, and 195,776 passengers. This shows an increase, as compared with 1871, of 43 ships and 29,891 passengers under the Act ; and of ships not under the Act, an increase of 74 ships and a decrease of 301 passengers. The total emigration for the year was as follows : — To tho United States, 395 ships, with 15,134 , cabin passengers, and 148,444 steerago. Th 9 nationalities were as follows; — English, 7.5,545; Scotch, 2537 ; Irish, 24,620 ; other countries, , 60,876. To Canada there wore 42 ships, with 1773 cabin and 16,263 steerage ; the national- , ities of the passengers being — -English, 11,212; 1 Scotch, 36 ; Irish, 22 ; and other countries, 1 6766. To Nova Scotia, direct from Liverpool, the numbers of passengers were 821 cabin and , 993 steerage ; of these 1740 were Englishj 5 , Scotch, 7 Irish, and 69 other countries. To I Newfoundland there sailed 35 cabin passongers, and 12 steerage, all of whom were English. One ship left the Mersey for Vancouver ; Island, with 53 cabin and 275 steerage passen--1 gers ; of these 192 English, 40 Scotch, ,70 . Irish, and 26 foreigners— total, 328. To , South America there sailed 8 ships, with 428 1 cabin and 1505 steerage passengers ; of these 1517 were English, 108 Scotch, 119 Ifiah, and \ 169 foreigners, making a total of 1933. The 1 total number of passengers, as stated above, . 185,743; and tho nationalities, 90,253 English, 2726 Scotch, 24,838 Irish, and 67,926 , foreigners.' i In our yesterday's issue we chronicled tho . arrival of the Italian steam corvette "Vittor i Pisani in theße waters, but -in consequence of s the late hour at which the vessel arrived we 1 were unable to give any particulars either relating to the passage from Sydney> ; or the vessel itself. The Vittor Pisani is a steam corvette carrying 14 guns, of 400-horse power, und commanded by Count Guiseppa Lovera di Maria. She carries a complement of 250 . men, and is fitted up with all the latest improvements,.being (juite a new ship. .She is

named after Vittoria Piaani, nephew of a great sea captain of the 14th century, -who commanded the -fleet of the Venetian Republic? in the war against Genoa in 1360. Vittor Pisani died after a glorious career in 1380. The- memory of these struggle* is re-called by the arrival, in our harbour of an Italian war vessel — the first that ever entered this port bearing the flag of Reunited Italy. The ship is a splendid model, and is one of the largest -war vessels that ever entered this- port. On her arrival at two o'clock yesterday morning, she-cast anchor in the man-of-war ground. She came up theharbour without a pilot, after firing off rockets outside for some little time. At an earlyJhour yesterday morning the captain of the Eoaario went on board, and exchanged salutation* with the captain of the Pisani. The captain and first lieutenant of tbo Italian ship afterwards went on shore, and paid their respects to the Governor at Government House. Throughout the day the vessel attracted a good deal of attention, and was the theme of j general admiration. We- have no doubt that she will be thrown open to the public for inspection, and that she will be visited by large numbers of people. She will remain here to coal for about ten days, and will afterwards take her departure for Italy, via Cape Horn. The following report of the vessel's passage has been kindly furnished by the officers of the vessel : — Left Sydney harbour at Beven o'clock on the morning of the 4th instant, under sail, and had for the first three days light N.E. winds, so that it was only on the 10th instant, in latitude 36deg 30min S., and Greenwich longitude 129 E. r that she was enabled to make any way towards the Worth Cape of New Zealand, with a good wind from the S.S.E. On the 16th instant arrived at the North Cape, and the same wind prevailing, the corvette was obliged to beat down | the coast in order to make Auckland. On the I 17th instant a violent squall arose from the I E.S.E., and the vessel was driven back and hove-to for three days off the North Cape. On the 21st the weather calmed, but the wind continuing from the same direction, steam was got up in order to reach Auckland; where she arrived as above. The Vittor Pisani has accomplished in two years a voyage of circumnavigation of tho globe, during which she has visited Asaph, Abyssinia, Aden, I Singapore, China, Japan, the Phillipine I Islands, Cochin China, Siatnythe Moluccas, ■ New Guinea, and Australia, receiving every- B where the greatest nroofs of. friendship.— B N.Z. fferald, March 25. 1 Speaking of the ship Brechin Castle, which S has been chartered by the New Zealand Loan m and Mercantile Agency Company to load at H Lytteltonfor England direct,, the Wellington 9 Independent, of March 24, says : — The 9 Brechin Castle is at anchor off the wharf 9 owing to the insufficient whacf accommodation! 9 She will be unable to get a berth until the 9 Chattanooga has been ballasted. Captain 9 Smith has taken advantage of this detention^ to paint and otherwise put his vessel in H order. During the passage from England B this vessel proved herself : no mean sailor, fi hoving frequently done fourteen knots am H hour. We are given to understand that ah© B will proceed to Lyttelton, for which port she B was chartered the day aftes her arrival ■ here, fl The same paper, on March 27, remarks :— The 9 ship Brechin Castle is in every sense of the fi word a magnificent vessel. It was thought fl we had seen the acme of perfection in ship- 9j building in the Halcione, Jessie Headman, and BJ Schiehallion — vessels only two or three years fll off the stocks — but the- Bveehin Castle is a&jjßj far superior to either ofi these as any of them Hi is to the old-style class- of vessels; which gene- BB rally manage to find favour with Shaw, SavilUH and Co. Her register is close up to 1000-jB tons, and she is composite built ; and though. BJ she is three years old, she has been keptW in such good order that she is at the pre-M sent . day as free from the marks of rough, Kg usage as when she came from the buildera'B hands, and these appearances are contributed H to by the care which makes itself everywhereH apparent in every rope in the rigging or run-fil ning gear being tidily put away in its propenß position ; indeed, in this matter, too oftenßJ looked upon as an insignificant consideration JB nautical men may learn something by visiting™ the ship at any time during the day. EveryjH thing about the ship is superb. Brass fittings IB highly polished, appear to be used everywherfHß possible, but this only helps to add to thJBJ cleanliness and smartness of the vessel. It iaKj in tho arrangements for working the shijßß that her groat superiority lies, and for thußfij purpose she is fitted with one of. Chaplin'fflH patent engines, placed in a nicely fitted houadßjE amidships, which, is so constructed that it. caoß9 be used either' for loading or diseharginJH cargo, heaving the anchor, hoisting the hal|H yards, or pulling on a brace, any of whicHH operations can be performed expeditiouslwß and without any of the troublesome confusioajßJ usually apparent when the service of a steanßH engine becomes suddenly requisite. engine is superior in construction to anythinjSßJ ever seen in this port, and its usefulness majHH be gauged by the fact that when the veßscSß was moving from her anchorage to her bertSJj at the wharf tho anchor was lifted and thRB topsails Bet in the Bpace of eight or ninjßß minutes. This, however, does not con^^sSS all its advantages, for .it is combined with 09 condenser capable of distilling thirty gallonßßJ of water an hour. The seamen's quarters weiflHJj not forgotten in making this ship one of th^BJ finest thatever floated, for every conveniencßßJ seems to have been thought of to render thoMBJ accommodation part'df the completeness cggggß the vessel. She* is also provided with tuRB simplest kind of patent steering -' apparatußJßj and her boats are equipped ready to go ovJBBI the side in case it should become necessary tBBB abandon the vessel. -■= The ship is owned qJiH Messrs Turnbull and Co., of Glasgow. 'vVyjßj Imve said nothing of the cabin fittmg's^'wulcflßfl may be very well judged by the excellence tfffflH the less important portione of tlie vessel, jbi9G| •-ye would strongly recommend those of "o JjHB citizens who admire the beautiful/ r in nautißHH not to miss the opportunity of inspecting tbBJB beautiful vessel. ' - ' . -•--' B 9 .•/ • . ..■ : i , ■'■ » i>\- Bflflßß