WELLINGTON.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3155, 8 August 1881, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

(TBOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.*' August 6th 1831. Another week ha 3 gone by shewing absolutely nothing done iv the way of useful legislation. There is a show of work without the slightest hope of practical results. One after another the members are going away to their homes for the remainder of the session, feeling that to remain at their legislative posts is alike useless so far as tbe interests of the country and their constituent are concerned, and decidedly detrimental to their own. •to the lobbies of the Lower House electric bells have been placed, doing jway W:t h the tintinnabulation of the Eandbells rung by the attendants on divisions. In future when divisions take place the clerk of the House has only to press a button on the right hand side of his desk, and the bell is set ringing in tbe members to tneir places. It is only the other day that Mr R. 0. Reid, member for Hokitika, drew a comparison, very unflattering to New Zealand, of the prohibitive charge made to mining companies for the u*e of the diamond-drill imported by our_ Government for the puroose of testing presumably auriferous ground, and the liberal terms on which the Victorian Government lets Out the drills imported by it for a similar purpose. Mr Reid pointed out that while the Victorian drills were likely to do good service ours would be allowed to rust. From the last number of the Australasian I see that Mr Reid's remarks are fully borne out. That journal says:—"The diamonddrill has made a conspicuous success. We recently reported that in the Crown Cross United mine at Stawell the dia-mond-drill was set to work at a depth of 1322 feet and on boring 375 feet further had pierced a reef of about ten feet in thickness. The core has been tested, and is found to contain gold at the rate of 17dwt. 3grs. per ton, a prospect with which the company is so satisfied that it purposes at once beginning to sink for tbe reef. This work will occupy a year, and will cost about £4000. The discovery is entirely due to the new and valuable instrument of which miners have recently secured the use. Without it it ia quite possible that the company would never have incurred the expenditure necessary to sink a shaft. This is not the only, though it is the most prominent, instance of the usefulness of the drill as an instrument for prospecting. It is not long since that its use in a claim at Hepburn led to discoveries which improved the quotable nature of the claim to the extent of £10.000. At Stawell we learn that the discovery in the Crown Cross United mine of a paying reef at a depth of 1700 feet has infused a new spirit of enterprise into mining work. The discovery in itself of paying quartz at this great depth is of vast importance as giving an enormous extension to the area of our known workable ground, and it immensely enlarges our views of the permanence of goldmining in the colony." It never rainß but it pours. Last week I mentioned land slips and other accidents on the Wellington and Masterton railway line. I have now to record an accident which might have resulted in loss of life bad the couplings of the carriages and trucks been sound. About a mile beyond Kaifcoke, from some unexplained cause—bad construction I believe —one of the trucks laden with timber left the rails, and toppled over the embankment. Fortunately tbe couplings gave way, leaving the remainder of the train on the metals, thereby averting a very serious catastrophe. It may not be uninteresting to state that the compensation claimed by sufferers by the Rimutaki accident of last year amounted to £488 19s 3d. At a largely attended meeting convened under the authority of the Mayor (Mr Hutchison) on Monday evening last at the "Theatre Royal, for the purpose of expressing sympathy with the sufferings of tbe people of Ireland, various resolutions were passed, amongst the most important of which was that a ladies committee be formed for the purpose of raising subscriptions to aid the Land League. Whatever may be Mr Hutchison's feelings upon the question, the meeting had the appearan;e not so much of having been called to express sympathy as to i secure to himself the vote of a large section of the community at the forthcoming general election. I could not avoid thinking, from the appearance of ; co many members of the House of ' Representatives on the ptatform, that they too were looking forward to the coming election. A robbery of a very daring character was effected last Suaday evening from the s.s. Stormbird at Wanganui. The i bank authorities at Waugauui had informed Capt. Dawson (the master of the Stormbird) of their intention to send about £400 worth o,f old silver to Wellington, for transhipment to Melbourne. The silver was sent down to the vessel, and the mate received it, as he had done on a previous occasion. He placed it for safety in.his cabin, without, however, acquainting the captain of it. On Sunday evening, the captain being on shore, the mate and the steward went to church, locking the cabin door, without leaving any one in charge of the treasure, and on their return the mate found that his cabin door had been burst open, and the silver stolen. On the arrival of tbe vessel at Wellington Chief Detective Brown, together with Detectives Benjamin and Chrystai, made a thorough search from stem to stern, but wifchout success. It is conjectured the silver must have been eank in the Wanganui river, no doubt care being taken by the theives to mark the spot by means of a buoy, so that, after the expiration of a nine days wonder, they will be able to enjoy the plunder. Tbe New Zealund Times, writing on the subject said " The conduct of the mate is, to say the least of it, extraordinary," for which insinuation they had in Thursday's paper to make a very humble apology. Perhaps I should not be outside the pale of fair comment if I infer that there appears to be a very lax manner in the way valuables are consigned* One would have thought that , in all cases where treasure is concerned it would have been lodged under the special care of the captain, and that he alone would be responsible for it. No doubt the thieves were thoroughly well acquainted not only with the vessel, but also with the movements of the officers / • and others. There is one remarkable Ay feature in the robbery, namely, that the »* crew were in the forecastle at the time, but did not hear any noise in the vicinity of the cabin, fn the case of a large veisel this might be easily understood, but in the case of a little craft like the Stormbird it is almost inconceivable.

On Monday, before the Resident Magistrate, in civil jurisdiction, Mr P, A. Buckley, tbe well-know, solicitor, of this town, sued a Mr H. B. Cockburn for a sum of £20 for a loan borrowed by Mr Cockburn, as he (Cockburn) stated for the purpose of paying the wages of his employe's. To Mr Buckley's utter astonishment he heard that, instead of

Cockburn payinc* the money away in wages, he walked straight to another solicitor with the amount to get " whitewashed." Is this not making use of a friend with a vengeance ? Of course Mr Buckley obtained judgment, but it is doubtful whether this amount will be paid him in full or take his share as a creditor. " The much dreaded Mrs Barnesj" as a contemporary styles a rather strongminded but troublesome woman, again made her appearance at the Resident Magistrate's Court for the purpose of Ventilating her grievances before the R.M. Mrs Barnes, however, not being satisfied with her interviewlwith Mr Shaw, went into hysterics, and seizing the back of a chair commenced hurling all sorts of imprecations at the head of a policeman who bad been requested by the magistrate to remove her gently but firmly from the precincts of the Court; She is evidently what in vulgar parlance is called a ■• Tartar." She occupied a house in Brook-street, and being behind hand in her rent, the landlord's agent paid her a visit for the purpose of ejecting her from the premises. He was greeted with the contents of a water jug from an upstairs window, and, considering discretion the better part of valour, retired, leaving her triumphantly in possession. A case was determined on Mond ay by Mr Justice Richmond (without a jury) as to the custody of an estate valued at between £80,000 and £90,000. The action was brought by Mr Sheehan, M.H.R., as executor under the will of Karaitiana, a native, against Henare Tomoana and others for probate of the will. After Mr Sheehan and other witnesses had been examined, Mr Travers, who appeared for the defendants, said he did not question tbe accuracy of the evideuce, but relied simply on questions of law, and His Honor pronounced for the will. Mr Sheehan thereby becomes sole executor and trustee. In my last letter I referred to four seamen of the barque Mary Lowe being brought before the Resident Magistrate for refusing to do duty while at sea, and more particularly in reference to a passenger named Nichols, who was subjected to ignominious treatment at the hands of the captain. Mr Nichols summoned the captain for the treatment he met with, and obtained a verdict with £10 damages and costs. Troubles do not come alone, for almost at the same time Captain Alexander had to answer another summons for unlawfully detaining the sum of £1 5s belonging to a lad named Leneen, who, it appears, had stowed himself away in the hollow iron tube of the jib-boom. After the ship had left the land Lensen emerged from his hiding place, and went to the captain, told him he was a stowaway, and asked to be allowed to work his passage. The captain agreed, and requested the lad to hand over what money he had, and Lensen handed him 25s on the understanding tbat it should be returned on tbe arrival of the ship at Wellington. The lad joined the crew, and was admitted by the captain to have made himself thoroughly useful. The defence was that the 25s was due to the owners for the maintenance of the lad, but Mr Shaw very properly told the captain that he had no right to order Lensen to hand over what money he possessed any more than he would be entitled to request the first man he met on the streets to do so. He ordered the captain to pay the 25s together with the costs.