AN HISTORIC VESSEL.

The hulk Formosa, now at Melbourne, may be described as an historio vessel. According to the information available she was ono of tho threo gnnboats built for tho Chinese Government some 30 years ago, being tnrned out from the yard of Mr. C. Langlej', at Deptford, England, in 1860.- When tho fleet was completed ready for sea, they wero manned by officers and men of tho Royal Navy, and taken ' ont to China under the charge of Captain (now Admiral) Sherard Osborn, who, according to arrangements previously made, was to retain command of the vessel in Chinese waters.. The Chinese Govornmont, howovor, insisted on piaoing a mandarin over Captain Osborn's head, which the lattor strongly objected .to, and as the vessels had not beon paid for they returned to England and woro purohased by the Imperial Government. For 10 or 11 years after this the Formosa, then known as H.M.S. Mullet, flow the white ensign, and was then sold out of tho Bervice. An anxiliary screw steamor at that time, her purobasers placed hor in tho hands of W. Walior A Co., of London, who took ont her engines and converted hor into a barque-rigged sailing vessel, and a very hM.udHom.oioraft a _o won For anveral years afterwards (from 1872> she did Bervice in various parts of the world, making Boveral trips to tho colonies, and ultimately she was purchased at Melbourne. Some fosr or five years ago, during the Russian war scare, tho Victorian Government secured a number of old voxels, which were, in case of need, to be sunk in the south and west channels and thus block the navigation. The Formosa was ono of these. Happily the scare passed over, and the old ship lay at her moorings from that time until a day or two ago, when it was decided to utilise hor as a magazine.

On account of the prevalence of influenza amongst the teachers and scholars!, the Mount Cook School Committee have closed their three schools— the Eoya', Girta', and Infants' —from this morning, when they wore to havo re-opened after tho Easter holidays, until Monday next. About one-third of the children are said to be affected with tho complaint, and Mr. Hardy, headmaster of tho Boys' School, is himself amongst tho enfferora. Other sohoola in the oity havo also beon thinly attended of late, and there | are not many mercantile offices, or Governmont departments, that have escaped the disablement of one or more olerks. It is, however, satisfactory to learn, on the authority of medical men, that the seizures have as yet been of the very mildest naturo, and that only two cases have been serious. We learn as wo go to press that tho Clyde Quay Committee have also decided to close their school from to-morrow until Monday next. The prize bull, concerning the quarantining of which some difficulty arose, has boen sent on to Melbourne by the To Anan, as the owner considered the quarantine charges both at Wollington and Lyttolton to be Rxoessive. The animal, it will be recollected, was purchased in Sydney and sent over to Auckland, but as there is no quarantine station there it was sent South. Tho Secretary of the Free Public library Fund requests ua to acknowledge his receipt of the following contributions : — Jubilee Rotunda. £4 -la 4sd ; D. Joalin, 10s; C. T. Batkin, £3 3s. He has also received a letter from Mr. A. W. Fitzherbert, enclosing a oheque for X5O from tho Hon. G. M. Watorhouso. The many friends in Wellington of Mr. Walter Haybittle, who left for Australia a fow months ago with the object of entering tho theatrical profession, will be pleased to hear that he has Beoured an engagement nnder Mr. William Rignold, an actor of repute in the Old Country, who has just come out to tho colonies with several new plays. Mr. Baybittle, whose norn de theatre is Walter Rivers, has been cast for the part of Juniper in " Now-a-days," which was to have been produced at Her Majesty 's Theatre, Sydney, for the first time in Australia, on Easter Monday. " Now-a-days "is a raoing drama which has had a very successful run in Great Britain, and the part allotted to Mr. Haybittlo is by no means a small one. Several ex-New Zoalanders, well known in Wollington, have also been engaged for tho drama, viz., Miss Maribol Greenwood, and Messrs. C. R. Bailey, H. B. Bubsoll, and H. R. Jewett. Mr. Eignold intends to mako a tonr through Now Zealand after playing in the ohiof centres in Australia. Argument was commenoed before Mr. H. \V. Robinson, Distriot Judge, in Chambers this morning upon a nonsuit Doint raised in tho oaso of Carswell v. Roardon, whioh was heard at the recent sitting of the Mastorton Distriot Court. The case was one in whioh the plaintiff olaimod from the defendant £110 odd UDon an alleged partnership in a special venture of picking up the skins of poisoned rabbits. The plaintiff, who was a boy of 17, sued throngh his next friond, in the person of his father. At the conclusion of the plaintiff's oase in the Distriot Conrt at Master ton, Mr. Jelliooe, on behalf of the defendant, olaimod to bo ontitlod to a nonsuit upon the ground that there was no evidence of a completed contract to go to the jury, but as he had his witnesses all ready, ne suggested, and the other side agreed, that the nonsuit point should be reserved and evidenoe for the defenoe received. The jury found eventually for tho plaintiff, holding that there was a contract. It therefore became necessary to argue the nonsuit point reserved, and by consent the argument was fixod to be taken in Chambers before the District Jndge in Wellington, and it accordingly came on to-day. In the absence of Mr. Pownall, plaintiff's oonnsel, through illness, Mr. Skerrett appeared in his stead. In addition to the nonsuit point, Mr. Jellicoe now moved, in case the point should go 1 against him, for a new trial upon the gronnds that the findings of the jurywere such that the Court could not 1 givo judgment upon them ; that the defendant had been taken by surprise by the > evidence of one witness ; that the Jndge had misdirected the jury upon a point of law, > and that the findings of tho jury were i agtinst the weight of evidence Mr. Jelliooe ■ argnod in support of his contention from 10 o'clock this morning until half-past 11, when : the Court adjourned until 2 o'clock. Mr. i Skerrett in addressing the Court in reply as ' wo go to presß. [ Mr. Robinson, R.M., has given judg- , ment in the interpleader cas6 of Shortt and , Reid v. Bath, Mrs. Hill interpleading, , nftor having heard fresh argument from j Mr. Gray for the claimant, and Mr. Haselden , for the execution oreditors. His Worship . decided that the document produoed by Mrs . Hill was a bill of sale, and required registrar [ tion, and consequently was null and void &c k against the execution oreditors. He fnrthei thought that, even apart from the queatior t of the Chattel Securities Act, the allegec sale to Mrs. Hill was fraudulent am void under 13 Elizabeth— Twynne'B case Judgment would therefore be in favoui t of the exeontion oreditors. Mr. Graj a asked for leavo to appeal, whioh wai granted, The ciromnstanoos of the abovi

'caßo are somewhat peculiar and noteworthy. 'Mr. Charles Bath, a storekeeper " 'at .Karori, engaged Mrs. Hill aa hia honsekoeper, and she otated on oath that when she went to Bath'B she had a Bum of botweon J250 and £G0 in notes which she had saved while in domestic service. She admitted she never kept a Savings Bank account, but had saved the money nevertheKfl, her wages being 10s per week. Shortly after she arrived at Bath's ehe bought tho household furniture then in Bath's house, and also his buggy and harness, taking from him the receipt produced. No change w»a made in the apparent ownership of tho goodß, bnt thoy remained in Bath's premises. Mr. Bath and herself ocrßeiomaily drive ont in the buggy. Mr. Bath corroborated his hoase-eeper's statement aa to the Bale and pnrchastf of the goods, but the transaction was held to Ye Tcid asi againßt au executivo creditor. The claimant, Mrs. Hill, has a Week allowed her to consider whether she will appeal. CoflstaWe Doyle arrested a woman named Elizabeth Catnsll on the reclaimed land this afternoon for dlsoidorly conduct while drunk. Tho officer had aofne difficulty in getting his captive to the Poliue Station, a/fd in placing her in an express received a vicious _Jo_ iA the oyo, which effectually blackened tba orbit. The offender will appear at the Mrfgintrate'a Court to-morrow morning to answer for her misdemeanour. The Brazilian Minister of the Interior has, HCaoTtUng to the Brazilian papers,_ introduced afl important foform by enjoining tho Brazilians to fllake «so henceforth of the Positivist calendar of An-finto Comte. In Brazil, Sunday will therefore now be called Htfmanidi, and tbe fnl lowing daya of the weak Maiidi, Patridi, Filidi, Fratidi, Dodirai and Matridi. Tbe names of the months will bo Moses, Hortßor, Aristotle, Archimedes, Cre«ar, St. Paul, Cfearlemagno, Dante. Guttenbarg, Shakespeare, Decartes, and Frederick the Great, 'the following description of an affray between the police and a party of bluejackets apf/eorH in the Auckland Herald of 4th inbtant :— For a t'ouplo of days past a nnmber of seamen, about n dozen, belonging to H.M.S. Jigcria, have beon outstaying their leave. A warrant was issued 1 for thoir apprehension on Wednesday, bnt as they liept together, on tbe principlo that nnitj was strength, and were likely to be aided by ■heir mates nsboreon leave in tbo oventof an intended arrest by the police, the latter prndently postponed the operation tillyestorday in the hopo that tho gang would break up, and the men be taken in detail in tho various publichouses. A close watch was kept on the gang, and yeatorday forenoon a dotoohmont of police, under Sergeants Clarke and Gamble, came up with the main body of stragglers in tho Thames Hotel. Believing that the "men and the honr" had arrived, the police decided to "run thorn in." The men-of-wara-mon barricaded one of tho rooms, and entrenched themselves, but the police carried tbfl fort, after a severe free fight, a eecond reinforc<Jme_t of police having arrived on tho scene. The whole party of bluejackets woro oaptured, but two wore liberated, it being proved that they were on leave. Noone was seriously hurt in tbe melee, but tho futniture was none the better for tho scrimmage which had taken placo. At a later hour of" tho day tho bluejackets were returned to $heir fihipin two detachments, under escorts of polico. On Wednesday the stragglers were only worth 20s a head, but yesterday they rose to £3 a piece, which is the reward the polico will get for their capture MEDicAii advice gratis. Renshaw's Monarch of Pain oures Neuralgia, Rheumatism, Sciatica, and Lumbago, when all other romedies fail, and is a thoroughly xennine specific, which ought to be in every household, roady for uso when required. It is without doubt the best and most roliable medicine of tho age for the diseases named, and is unrivalled for its efficacy. — Ad-vt.