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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2684, 23 September 1871, Page 2

Supreme Court. —The case of Wilson v. Gilmour ami Another was continued to day. The case for the defendant had not concluded at half-past four o’clock. Mayor’s Court. —There was only one ease at the Court to-day. Henry Cowan, an old offender, was lined 10s, or 48 hours, imprisonment for drunkenness. Missionary. —Bishop Patteson is expected to arrive at Auckland, by the missionary ship Southern Cross, in a short time, and from thence will proceed to the Fijis, in compliance with the request of the settlers in those islands, that he would become their spiritual head. Accident, About noon to-day, E. P. O’Keefe, drayman to Mr C. Burke, was riding on an empty dray drawn by two horses, Avhen one of them, which had been only purchased about a fortnight, took to kicking, and threw him off the dray, which passed over his leg and broke it just above the knee. He was taken to the Hospital, and is likely to do well. Flax as an Export.—By returns published in the Gazette, it appears that the following number of tons of flax were exported from different places in the Colony during the June quarter 456 tons from Auckland, 9 tons from Wanganui, 263 tons from Wellington, 25 tons from Wairau, 59 tons from Nelson, 344 tons from Lyttelton, 211 tons Horn Dunedin, and 15 tons from Bluff Harbor. Gaol Return. —Tire following is the state of H. M. Gaol, Dunedin, for the week .ending 23rd Sept. Awaiting trial, 1 men, 0 women ; under remand, 1 men, 0 women ; penal servitude, 85 men, 0 women; hard labor, 44 men, 12 women ; imprisonment, 0 man, 0 women ; in default of bail, 2 men, debtors, 1, Total, 134 men ; 12 women. Received during the week, 6 men, 2 women ; discharged, 9 men, 2 woman. Golden Oysters. —A fishmonger in the Grey Valley recently brought to the Ahaura some rock oysters—probably from Auckland—and adhering to the shells of some of them were portions of a kind of conglomerated ironstone and hard slate rock. On opening one of the bivalves, a piece of the rock happened to get broken, and gold was plainly seen in the fracture. The pieces of rock sticking to the shells are evidently part of the casing of a quartz reef; and if gold is as thickly scattered through the stone as it is visible in the casing, it must be a valuable one.

An. Estimate op our Depbmders. retired officer in the regulars, 4 sums up an article on military affairs, at Home, in the following manner I would define our volunteers, as being a thoroughly good machine in thoroughly bad working order, and that our regulars, though perfect as drill sergeants can make them on parade, lack a certain confidence in their officers, which, mar their efficiency in action—we must not forget that our army is no longer composed of the unthinking gallant clowns, of whom it has been said, that they had not even sense enough to kno.w whether they were beaten, but of more or less partially educated men, who are by no means backward in estimating their officers at their actual value, and whose dislike to being uselessly killed increases in the same ratio that their brains expand. Parliamentary J ores.—Mr Stafford when speaking on the Justices Protection BUI, stated, as an illustration of the difficulties justices of the peace had sometimes to encounter, that on one occasion he wss compelled to swear in his own ploughman as a special constable and make his own barn a lock-up, for the benefit of a drunken woman, who was such a nuisance, that she was obliged to be put under restraint, the special walking sentry fall night. During the debate on the Vaccination Bill, Mr Bunny’ ridiculed one of its clauses by saying, ‘ ‘ Unless you are vaccinated you shan’t be married.” 'i his brought an hon. member to his feet, who stated that the remark was not so ridiculous as members might think. He said he knew a gentleman who, being engaged to a Norwegian lady, went to Norway to marry her, but before he could do so, he had to submit to vaccination, such being the law in that country. Happy country ! At the finish of the delivery of the Financial Statement, one of the West Coast goldfields members was heard to say, “It’s too bad of Vogel. He has jumped Stafford’s claim.”

Judge Johnson on Education, — His Honor in his opening charge at the Supreme Court sittings, Welliugton, on the 4th iast, thus referred to this question : He said that it was not his purpose on that occasion to make many general remarks, but some interesting questions had recently arisen both at home and abroad, on which he thought it necessary to offer some remarks. That of education was to his mind the most important that was left to modern society to grapple with. Ho might say, in Ids position, that it was the last in which he should offer any opinion of even a quasipolitical character, hut he offered suggestions having a bearing on the repression and prevention of crime in connection with education. It was generally agreed on all hands that education was the most effective means for preventing crime, bat he questioned Whether mere intellectual training mere cultivation of the intellect—would make a go.od citizen. He intimated that, in his ,opinion, religious and moral training were absolutely needed to make good members of society, that secular education only would ■never have the effect, and that any system of education based on this principle would fail in the objects sought, and in coining to •tlris .conclusion he was guided by the observation and experience of niany years. Dr. Moran in Wellington. an article on the Bishop’s recent address to the people of Wellington, the Advertiser says :—lf we thought the Roman Catholics of New Zealand stood in need of a champion to fight their battle on the education question (which we are not at all prepared to admit), they have one both eloquent and able in the person of Bishop Moran. Since the arrival in Welliugton of the Roman Catholic Bi-hop of Otago, whose name has become somewhat familiar to the people of the Colony through -the medium of the press, the public have been on the tenter hooks of expectation to hear his dictum on behalf of his church on the matter of education. Indeed, it is was not difficult to remark, jfroro the want of .unison on the part of the congregation at St Maty’s Cathedral yesterday morning, during tjie celebration of mass, that curiosity had something to do with the ur.J usually large attendance. It _ was not surprising, then, to see poli’icians of eminence, journalists of note, and a number of other men of mark of lesser degree, being conspicuously close to the pulpit. His Lordship, who was perfectly aware of the feeling that existed towards himself, intimated as lunch when, with almost military laconism, he adverted to the strictures and misrepresentations he had been subjected to by some portions of onr press ; and if, in the course of his remarks in putting himself right with people of Wellington, by explaining the cause of his previous action in this matter of education, he did not bring conviction to the minds of those in favor of his view of the question, he at least showed that the claims of his co-rcligiouists have a large amount of justice in them, and that in Bishop Moran they have an able and temperate exponent. The Government Scheme. —Under the- heading “ Log-rolling,” the Hawke's Bay Herald remarks: —Mr Vogel has hit the right nail on the head in proposing a Public Board of Works, whose duties it -ill be to take charge of the construction of public works and the management of immigration. No Government under the present system could carry out the great scheme of colonisation to which this colony is now pledged unless prepared to purchase the support of those members who were determined to go in for a general scramble. The debate (if such it can be termed), which took place on Mr Farnall’s motion for an appropriation of LI 0,000 per year for ten years in the district which he represents, must have shown the Government plainly that if they desired to carry out the scheme impartially as a harmonious whole for the benefit of the Colony, they were bound to propose some plan by which “ log-rolling would be prevented. The Colony has too long suffered from this wretched system. Moneys raised in times past by the different Provinces for the promotion of public works and immigration have been frittered away in order to purchase the support of members from districts who voted on the Government side. In fact, when a loan was obtained, it was the signal for a general scramble, ami “logrolling” in every shape and form became the order of the day. Whatever confidence the Colony has shewn in the present Ministry, it is wise on the part of its members to shew no grasping spirit for power, and wc believe that this proposal of having a Board of Works, free from all political influence or pressure, will not only tend to strengthen their position in the House, hut will raise them in the estimation of the general public,

The Urewera Country.—Captain Mair, commander of th.6 Arawa* flying column, gives come interesting particulars of the features of the Urewera country and of the characteristics of its inhabitants The fact of a small force having passed through the whole of the Urewera country, in so short a time, and during the worst months of the year, ought to teach them that their wild country will not save them from punishment, should they continue in rebellion; while their being brought into contact with Europeans, cannot fail to have a beneficial effect, and do away with the dread and mistrust with which long seclusion has taught them to look upon us. Many of the Urewera have never seen the sea, and hardly ever a white man. The Maungapowhatu Natives are a wild, restless set, with large shaggy heads of hair, and clad in mats made from the coarse fibres of the' toi ( cordijUm imlivisa); they bore but small resemblance to civilised beings. But their condition has wonderfully improved already; large supplies of clothing having been sent tothem from the coast by the friendly natives ; and the desire for. peace is general and sincere. The Urewera country may be called the New Zealand Tyrol. It is one mass of mountains, scarcely an acre of level land, and densely wooded with the sombre black birch. I saw DO indications of gold, i except quartz boulders, in the Houpuruwahine river. Maungapowhatu is a long range, the southern ext emity resting' on Waikare Lake ; the northern terminating in a frowning cliff, about 4QOO feet high, bare to the summit. A remarkable peak—Tarata te Maungaroa—is the burial place of all the Urewera chiefs. While at Waikare, I discovered the existence of a large lake, lying to the north-east about fifteen miles, named Waikare Iti. Two large streams run from it into Waikare, one at Mokau, and the other at Whangamn-a-parua ; very little is known of this lake. The old men told me that it was famous for the enormous quantities of duck ; the # great • grebe of the south also abounds there. Among the tribe children are very numerous; as a rule, they are very healthy, but I observed a great many cases of “ goitre,” a disease common to the inhabitants of mountainous countries. I saw about ninety stand of arms in possession of the Urewera, principally rifles and good doublebarrelled guns.

We notice that services in connection with the Rev. T. Roseby, M.A.,LL 8., to the pastoral of the Congregational Church, Moray place, will be conducted to-morrow as follows : Forenoon—Rev. W. Reid ; afternoon —Rev. W J. FTabens, 8.8. ; evening—Rev, T. Roseby. We have been requested to state that the office of the Union Permanent Building Society is open every Saturday evening from 7.30 to 8.30, for receipt of subscriptions, &c. We have been requested to call the attention of Volunteers to the general order in our advertising columns ; also to remind them that, although at the head of the Rifle shots, constant practice will be necessary to enable them to hoep up their prestige.