The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 11, 1866.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 162, 11 September 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 11, 1866.

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S "COURT,

Tins Day. [Before J. Poynter, Esq., Pi.M.] LARGEST. Michael Clarke was charged with stealing £6 from John Pennock, on the 6th instant. The prisoner denied the charge Mr. Kingdon appeared for him. The following witnesses were examined :— John Pinnoek sworn : I was in the company of the prisoner last Saturday evening. I then had my money. It was at Trimble's. I had five old notes and one new one in my waistcoat pocket. I missed the money next morning. The prisoner asked me to lend him 10s. the previous evening, and this led me to suspect he had robbed me. Mr. Trimble gave information to the police. The notes produced are, I think, those I lost, but I neither know the numbers nor the bank. I think I can recognise the new note produced. William Harvey sworn: I saw the prisoner in company with the prosecutor on Saturday evening last. The" hitter went to sleep and the prisoner was takinu charge of him. The prosecutor was the worse for liquor and was lying on a chair. I and my party - lott them in the room together. I saw the prosecutor Ml down and the prisoner lift him up. I did not hear the former complain of losing his money. Edward Scott sworn : I know the prisoner, who wii« working with me under Mr. Murfiin. I saw him at Trimble's on Saturday night. I saw him from 7 till 10 in the evening. I heard Clarke ask the prosecutor to lend him 10s., which the latter refused, i saying he did not know. him. The prisoner then j s- id the fellow won't lend riie '"tiny monej , although j Ik- had plenty. Clarke then left the room. ]S r one of \ the men I was drinking with received their wages on Saturday night. I know" the prisoner had only a few shillhms when he went to Trimble's. To Mr. Kindlon : Clarke spent no money while i he was with me. 'We went to Potter's together and had sonic beer, for which Clarke paid one shilling. He did not change a note there, I a,m positive. On | f the works Friiiav and Saturday, he said he had no money to yet a pint of beer. I don't know what made him say this. He paid one Mulling at rotter's I before we went to Trimble's. I saw no money in his possession but this shilling. To the Bench : I don't know if this man has ever been in Nelson gaol. Constable Peter Levy, sworn: From information received. 1 arrested the prisoner on Monday morning. ! On searching him I found 4s. He put it out himself I savin" this was all the money he had. I arrested him in a house in Bridge-street. He came from Tarunaki hoi c. 1 think. It was at the lock-up I searched him and found the 4s. referred to. I afterwards ! searched the house where I arrested him. The house i is occupied by Mrs. liuckloy. Constable Shore found j a purse containing four IX notes. I was present. The nmi'.ev wus "rolled tip in the flax of the bedtick. It must have been planted there. Mrs. Buck- } lev said the money was not hers. "Mr. Trimble sworn: The prisoner was at my house ' on Sunday morning. I did not notice him on Satur- ■ day night. He changed a pound note and paid for j himself and others. The note produced is the note I he chanaed. I saw the prosecutor there on Saturday, I in the afternoon and at 12 o'clock at night. He was ' quite drunk. I and the cook carried him out and covered him up. In the morning he said he had lost his money, and described it as four old notes and one new one. "At this time the prisoner came in and went out, quickly the back way. On learning that the prisoner had been in company with the prosecutor, I gave information to the police, which led to the prisoner's arrest. The Magistrate said he should remand the prisoner till Tuesday next, for further information, as it was a case of great suspicion. LTJKACY. Daniel Wotton was brought up and questioned by . the Magistrate. He appeared to be very ill. Evidence was taken which proved that his mind was in a deranged slate. Mrs. Wotton said he was extremely violent at times, and had been deranged for the last three months. He was also very weak from want of nourishment. She thought medical aid would be of service to him. The evidence of Dr. Cusack was taken ; he said : Wotton was in the Asylum about four months ago. He appeared to be a proper subject for the Asylum now. He did not seem capable of taking care of himself. Dr. Vickerman agreed with the last witness that Wotton ought to be sent to the Asylum, for his own sake as well as for that of others. Mrs. Wotton said her husband had 30 acres ot land at Waimea West, but he was unable to look after it, and was so poor that he was nearly starved. Doctors Cnsack and Vickerman gave their evidence in the case of Benjamin Dixon, who was also said to be deranged in his mind. He was evidently in an \msettled state of mind. He had been confined before, j

The medical men suggested he should be sent to the Asylum. The Magistrate gave an order that both Wottou and Dixon should be sent to the Lunatic Asylum.

The secretary of the Fire Relief Fund, desires to acknowledge the receipt of the handsome donation of £10 from the Hon. Major Richmond. Persons intending to send articles to the Melbourne Exhibition, are requested to forward them with description and name of exhibitor, to the premises in Hardy-street, opposite the Bank Hotel, to-morrow, 12th inst. The postal committee recommend that a commission of two and a half per cent, be given to sellers of postage stamps, and suggest that in all cases postmasters should have authority to sell stamps. The following Bills have passed both Houses, the first four have received the Governor's assent : — Criminal Law Procedure Bill, Partnership Law Amendment Bill, Anns Act Amendment and Continuance Bill, Supreme Court Judge's Bill, District Court Jurisdiction Extension Bill, Military Peusion's Bill, Crown Debt's Recovery Bill, Indictable Offences Trial Bill, Trade Mark's Bill, Vagrant Bill, ludemuity Bill, Summary Procedure on Bills Bill, Sale of Poison's Bill, Provincial Compulsory Land Taking Bill, Crown Grants Validation Bill, Friendly Natives Contracts Confirmation Bill, Alien's Bill. Major-General Chute and staff were passengers by the Phosbe, which arrived on Sunday evening, and left yesterday, for the North. Doukin, charged with embezzlement in Duuediu, has beeu acquitted. The Panama steamer Rakaia, Captain Wright, arrived at Wellington at 2.30 p.m. from Sydney, 7fch, eu route for Panama. The Kaikoura having arrived at Sydney on. the Ist, the Rakaia was detained by the Post-master-General until the following day, when she sailed for Wellington. The Rakaia had a line run down, and sailed for Panama oti Saturday. Colonel Whitmore's overseer, at Pohui, I Hawke's Bay, reports that several sheep on that gentleman's run have been killed by natives — it is presumed by straggling parties from Titiokura. Major Richardson lias undertaken to deliver 'a lecture to the Young Men's Christian Association at St. Peter's Church, Te Aro. Subject : — " The advantage of individual exertion for the well-being of a colony." The action taken at Picton by Mr. Beauchamp to recover 10s. 6d. from the Speaker of the House of Representatives has been withdrawn. At Duiiedin, on the 27th nit., the body of the deceased convict, Thos. Lang-ham, was delivered over to his relatives and friends, and interred by them in the General Cemetery. The brother and sister of the deceased attended the funeral. Sergt. Macmahon, on behalf of the police authorities, was also present, to see that the body was buried. The G. R. Argus mentions that the appointment of surgeon to the Greyraouth Hospital has been offered to and accepted by Mr. Yates, resident surgeon at the Dunediu I Hospital. Mr. Foppoly, Mr. Yate's predecessor in the office, is leaving for Italy. The Oamaru Times, one of the oldest country papers in Otago, last week announced its intention of publishing twice a-week for the future, instead of weekly as heretofore. In his address to the grand Jury in Dunedin, Mr. Justice Chapman explained the provisions of the new Act "for amending the law of evidence and practice on criminal trials, etc.," so far as its provisions affected the jury. Witnesses required by the Grand Jury have hitherto beea sworn, in open court, and it has often happened that the examination of a witness or other business has been interrupted while this was being done. In future the foreman of the Grand Jury will administer the necessary oaths. The Resident Magistrate at the Bluff, referring to gold found in the iron sand, writes:— ln Bluff Harbor we have small quantities of iron sand, and in it there is gold, but vety fine. About five miles from

my house they are scraping the layers of black sand off the beach and washing it for gold. I hear that the grains are so fine that they use quicksilver to amalgamate them. A man returned for supplies last week and told us he had made. 8 ounces the previous week. The M. Press is glad to learn that our whalers in Queen Charlotte Sound have succeeded in capturing another whale, and are sfcill in hopes of catching more before the season closes. They say this is the best season they have had for some years. The ladies of St. Paul's Presbyterian Congregatiou, Christchurch, the minister of which is the Rev. George Grant, have determined upon holding a bazaar in the Town. Hall, on or about the 17th of October next, for the snle of fancy goods and other useful articles, the proceeds of which will be devoted to the purchase of a building site for a church. Mr. Justice Johustou, says the New Zealand Advertiser, is oftentimes peculiarly jocuIcr, and now and again what falls from his Honor has a tendency somewhat to relieve the characteristic dullness of the proceedings of the Supreme Court. In reply to a question yesterday, a witness residing at the Hutt stated that the nearest place from there at which a magistrate could bo found at home was Wellington ! " What ?'"— asked his Honor apparently in great astonishment — "Do you mean to tell me that in New Zealand where magistrates are as plentiful as blackberries" (a laugh) "none of them are to be found at home between the Hutt and Wellington ? Where is Mr. Grace, Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Ludlam, and Mr. I-don't-know-who ?" The witness assured the Court that it was so. His Honor had thereby perpetrated a witticism, and demonstrated that in a country where blackberries are scarce magistrates are scarcer. The Water Nymph, which left Blenheim (Port Underwood) on March 21, with 1500 bales wool and sundry passengers, arrived safely at Gravesend on June 23. Major Dune, B-.M., Wanganui, retires on a pension, and although many gentlemen have been named as likely to succeed him we (Evening Post) have not yet heard to whom the appointment has been given. The Wellington Advertiser gives the following account of a trial in the Supreme Court: — Mr. George Hunter and Mr. Robert Stokes sought to recover damages for nondelivery of certain sheep that had been shipped on board the Wey mouth prior to that vessel leaving England for Wellington. From the evidence it appeared that the plaintiffs had scut orders to their agents at home to procure for them some line Leicester rams and ewes-, and it was arranged that the sheep should be placed on board the Weymouth. Ou the passage out eight deaths occurred, and the survivors, when landed, were in such a weak condition that the plaintiffs imputed it to a want of proper care and attention and an insufficiency of food, and it was in consequence of this that the action had been instituted. The defendant alleged that on the voyage out he had taken especial care of the sheep, that he had supplied them with abundance of food (which, however, they had refused to take), and called several witnesses in support of his allegation. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant. The Union Bank in Melbourne, having been appointed the agent for the sale of Queensland Treasury Bills, invited tenders for them. £170,000 worth were tendered for. All were accepted, except £3,000 worth below par. It is considered probable that Newcastle will be lighted with gas in seven or eight instead of 18 months from the present time. Mr. A. Rodgers is at Melbourne with a view to purchasing the plant at Williamstown, in the place of sending to England for it. The Auckland bakers have made a further reduction in the price of bread, and the *•' staff of life " there is now procurable at very reasonable prices, a four pound loaf being sold at ninepence. Mr. Logic, Collector of Customs at Dunedin, ' is, we hear, about to retire from the service; and the probability is that Captain Sharpe, out of office in consequence of the Marine Boaf d having ceased to exist, will be the new collector.

WORDS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. Searching after knowledge seems to be the great gold-mine of our youth at present, though of course we feel and know ourselves far behind the footsteps of our European brethren, in the track through the huge forest of thought. Some dig the earth and spare no hardship to discover fossils, minerals, or land shells, or to elucidate the various geological strata of our soils. Others meanwhile are industriously travelling after moa bones, or toiling up mountains for endless variety of our unequalled ferns, or chasing under a broiling sun, the rare moths, or rarer butterflies of this new world, sparing themselves no bodily fatigue. Others as perseveringly study phrenology for no practical ends, devote hours to obtaining harmony upon different instruments, till the fingers are sore, or the head aches — all alike striving after what each one believes the rosiest blossom on the tree of knowledge ; and all this in the way of amusement ; for I would not for a moment be thought to be speaking of the legitimate labor of each man's life — the plough, the yard measure, the pen, or the sales. None can for a moment question but all these forms of intellectual amusement are accompanied by labor, either of head or hands; and therefore it is that, sitting in my old easy chair, and looking down on all youth strives after, even as I myself did half a century ago, it strikes me as strange that one most beautiful and lustrous leaf on that said old evergreen tree should be passed over so completely, while at the same time few descriptions of pleasant study are so easily attainable, being alike open to the sturdy yeoman' industrious mechanic, solitary shepherd, or the most delicate woman. I refer to astronomy. Nay, do not be frightened, readers, and cry "Bosh!" It is not with Copernicus, or Newton, or any of those giant-minded grand old fellows I grumble that you do not spend your time, or even with the modern discoverers of Neptune; but sitting quietly listening to the pleasant, innocent, and wholesome chat of our youth of both sexes, marking how they bring to the shining surface all the scraps of knowledge they have dug or climbed for, walked or studied for, it does seem strange that this one magnificent branch should be so totally overlooked. Credit me, I have heard a fairly educated young person talk of being unacquainted with Jupiter or Venus, not knowing the •evening star. Oh! schoolmasters or schoolmistresses, have your labors in Nelson been of so little avail as actually to sow in this young mind an idea that one particular star was, each evening all the year round, to be seen in the west? Rudiments of geography! have ye been so lightly lithographed on this plastic mind as not to prove that the world goes round, and that one star could never be in the same position two successive nights at the same hour? Take a piece of paper and place it on a window pane, some starlit night, and mark each star that comes within its range; that day week repeat the same short lesson, standing in the original position, you will find all things altered. But go again that day twelvemonth, and c;\refully retaining both your own and the paper's position, you will discover each golden orb rolled round again to its olden place. It is not with the slightest intention of insulting those of my readers who are perchance fur better instructed in astronomy than I pretend to be, that I write, and not for a moment do we doubt that Nelson holds many such, but it is to the youth of both sexes that old GeotiVey makes his salaam, and hints that while studies so much harder of attainment are sedulously followed, some common acquaintance at least, may very pleasingly be made, Avith the resplendent panorama each favorable night maps out before our wondering eyes. For instance, schoolgirls and schoolboys look to night, and mark how grandly Venus in her silvery splendour shines in the west, rising each evening higher and higher, or more correctly making her arch larger until she attains a certain point, when she will as graduall}' lower her span, while Jupiter is rivalling hor each evening in the west. It is not every year we have these two together ; last year we had, and also Mars, with his scarlet banner, all three appearing at once ; but this rarely happens, how rarely you may by and by be interested to discover. Seen through a telescope what attractive objects are the four restless moons of Jupiter, as well as the waxing and waning of the crescent Venus. Would not a moderatoly powerful telescope displayed on certain fine nights in each month, at so much a glance, pay as well as many other things ? That several of our townspeople possess some excellent ones, lam fully aware ; if they would open them for public use, instead of the everlasting magic lantern displayed on gala nights for young people, would it not be at once a novelty Snd a success ? Old Geoffrey.