The Evening Star. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1878.

Evening Star, Issue 4897, 11 November 1878, Page 2

The Evening Star. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1878.

The battery of the "Wotheratonos Cement Company (Brown and Gascoigne's) was formally christened on Wednesday. A Mr Jes3e Shepperd, a medium, who arrived by the last San Francisco mail Bteamer, is creating a sensation in Sydney. Ho fairly bewilders his audiences.

At the Volunteer banquet on Saturday night Colonel Whitmore announced the appointment of Major Gordon to the Inspectorship of the Volunteer forces of the Middle Island. The San Francisco correspondent of the Wellington 'Chronicles ' writes :—" Yellowfever has tried and proved humanity." Here is what the 'Avalanche' says:—" Parents have deserted children, and children parents j husbands their wives, but not a wife her husband." This verdict is given in the very face of deatli by men who know whereof they write. The ' Wellington Chronicle,' which, it may be presumed, speaks with some authority, says that the changes to be made i» the police force heads of department are to be general throughout the Colony, and that the Oabinet had determined upon these changes some weeks ago. Tlie shifting of Superintendents Ateffison and Brougham lias nothing whatever to do with the Police Committee's report. One of the questions asked of the gaoler of the Wellington Gaol at the late commission of inquiry was: '• What part of the treatment is most irksome to prisoners, and what do they most complain of?" the answer given to which is: "Loss of liberty—being kopt constantly and steadily at hard labor" and being unable to obtain newspapers," Wc have been assured by several gaol authorities that the prisoners miss the newspapers almost as much as they would their tobacco if depi-ived of it. An American gentleman, who obtained a ticket and paid a lengthened visit to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, said to a friend on his return:—"l have seen the arsenals on the Continent of Europe, and those in my own Country, but I have been astonished—indeed, may say appalled—at what I have i seen at Woolwich. You ought to make no difficulty about showing it to foreigners. You have only to admit them freely, let "them see your preparations, and no country 1 in the world would think of fighting you." It will be interesting to know under what statnte the Crown is prosecuting Francis 1 oster for marrying the sister of his deceased wJfo. It is, we believe, the first prosecution of Vac kind in the Empire, and we agree with the 'West Coast Times'in the opinion that no jriminal charge can be sustained. It may be i Uegal to many a connection of the kind, but T ve doiibt whether there is any penalty pro viied in tho armory of the law. The iner © fact that the law docs not recognise such unions, and that children born from then.- are not considered legitimate, is supposed to be a sufficient punishment for cong them. : The Government .have pro : ba bly c letermined to prosecute in this instance in . wle r to try the question, and make it a test .cajic as it wore.

The anniversary services of the Primitive Methodist Church at Kew yesterday wee largely attended. Tin; preachers were Mr E. W. U'Ren, Rev. J. Guy, aud licv. J. Ward.

The Queen's was crowded to c:cce33, indeed money was refused for the lower purts of the house on Saturday night, when " Trovatore" was given to the thorough satisfaction of the large audience, which was enthusiastic in its appreciation of the efforts of the principal characters. The opera is to be repeated to-night.

At Nelson last week a child named Emma Thompson, nearly three years old, was killed by a fall. She had been playing in a manner very customary with children, viz., swinging round while holding on to her siater's dress. She got giddy, released her hold, and fell on her head. Concussion of the brain followed, and death resulted next morning.

The Bishop of Wellington, having occasion to write to a local paper regardiEg some Synod matters, concludes his letter by expressing his opinion that the recent defeat of Mr Cnrtis's Bill by a majority of only six in a full House "affords strong gronnds for thinking that a protost against the present system of education may not be altogether without a beneficial result."

The following engagements of immigrants were effected at the Caversham depot on Saturday and to-day :—Males : 1 ploughman at L 55 per year; 1 farm laborer at 25s per week, 3 at L6O per year, 1 at LSG, 2 at L 55, and 7 at L 52. Females : 2 nursegirls at 6s per week; 1 general servant at 15s per week, 5 at L4O per year, 1 at L 37, 2 at L3G, 3 at L 35, 12 at L3O, 4 at L2O, 1 at L2O, 1 at L 27, and 2 at Ll6.

In the colony there are 2,011,926 acres enclosed by fenceß of various descriptions, exclusivo of wire fencing, and 8,755,639 acres by wire fencing only ; making a total of land enclosed of 11,567,565 acres. In 1871 there were only 6,770,299 acres fonced in. There were at the time of taking the census 374 steam threshing machines, and 511 worked by horso or by water power; 3,829 reaping machines, 34 steam ploughs, aud 32 steam harrows.

In Wellington it is stated on what appears to be excellent authority that Mr G. M. Reed has accepted an appointment as Emigration Agent in England for tw« years, and that part of his mission will bo to assist the Government journals* in arranging the "phantasmagoria" of European news the Premier alluded to in one of his speeches on the wire question. It is further stated that the Government will undertake to assist in arranging for this special message. The promenade concert given by the Invercargill Garrison Band on the Caledonian Grounds this afternoon drew together a large attendance, who were much pleased with the very excellent operatic and danee selections played. The programme was as follows:—"Pas Redouble," "William Tell," "Flotte Bursche Quadrille," " The Bonnie Church Bells," "Linda Polka," "Scotland," "New Burlesque" valse, "Pretty Martha" schottische, "Robert le Diable," "Potpourri" quadriUe, "Rigoletto"mazurka, "Blue Danube" galop, "New Zealand Anthem," and "God Save the Queen." Tho various "Volunteer companies now in Dunedin were represented. The * West Coast Times,' whose faith in the Ministry beautiful to see, has at last discovered the delusiveness of Ministerial promises. In an article on the Railway | .Oonstruction Bill, it thus comments on the circumstance that only L 15.000 is put down i this >'ar fur the Hokitika-Greymouth Railway :—-" We are sorry to admit that the MiirWtry have failed utterly in realising the high hopes that were fonned of them at the outset of the session, and, though they must inevitably have another years tenure of office, they must amend their ways considerably before they regain the confidence of this portion of tho Colony. They have broken distinct pledges, they have dealt unfairly and exceptionally with weak district, have pandered to the most important, and have utterly failed to carry out more than the shadow of the policy they expressed at the outset of the session. Let us hope they will vet turn over a new leaf I" At tho City ?olice Court this morning, before Messrs Logan >vd Captain Fraser, the following persons, chai£ ftd with druukenness, were dealt with :—Thorn"* James M'Arthur, Cecil M'Namara, Willia.7 1 Hamil " ton, George Williams, and Peter Johns. n ' convicted and discharged; Donald Macdonald and Simon Macartney, 10s or fortyeight hours each. Charles Falconer Smith admitted stealing a copy of "Gulliver's Travels," of the value of 225, the property of John H. Cook, and was sentenced to fourteen days' imprisonment with hard labor. Before Mr Hazlett, J.P., John Stokes was charged on warrant with deserting his wife, Caroline Stokes, and five children. Complainant stated that she did not wish to press the charge as her husband had that morning given her money. The case was remanded until to-morrow, prisoner being admitted to bail in his own recognisance. The Tauranga paper, of which Mr Edgcumbc is the proprietor, had occasion recently te consure with some severity the inaction of the harbsr-master, whose name is Marks, in regard to buoying certain channels. The manner in which that outraged servant of the Government remonstrated is thus described by our contemporary :—" As Mr Edgeumbe was stepping on board the Taupo, for Auckland, he waa assaulted m a most brutal and cowardly manner by Pa3coe Spriddle Marks, a boatman in the employ of his father, Hannibal Marks, the pilot and harbor-master of Tauranga. When Mr Edgeumbe came on the wharf he was accosted in a most offensive manner by Marks, whose object was evidently to provoke him to blows. Finding, however, that his blackguardly language waa treated with silent ' contempt, the man's brute naturo came uppermost, and he struck Mr Edgeumbe several violent blows, besides kicking him in tho most cowardly manner." I

An extraordinary occurrence happened at Daylesford on the 24th ulfc. A farmer named William Hussey, armed with a double-barrelled gun, went into the paddock of a neighbor named Newton, with the intent to Blioot him. He aimed the gun at Newton's ploughman, who at once got behind die plough-horse, and then Hussey fired at Newton's son and narrowly missed him. All the men about the place ran away, whilst Hussey rushed about searching for Newton to shoot him. A man named Robinson at last grappled with him, and after a desperate fight secured him. Newton then became insensible, and continued so, and was taken in custody by a constable, and removed to the hospital. He never recovered consciousness, and died in twenty minutes after admission, notwithstanding the exortions of the medical men. The cause of the attempt was a bad feeling between Newton and Hussey, as the former had impounded Hussey's cattle, and it is said Hussey drank a quart of gin that morning before the occurrence. . Ho had on his person over L' 2,000.

Tho new regulation enforced on Saturday, under which no" person was allowed upon the railway station platform unless provided with a ticket, occasioned no little inconvenience to the travelling public. In accordance with the now confirmed practice of the department, no publicity had been given to the alterations in the time tabic, nor were copies posted anywhere, except upon the platform itself, so that persons wishing to take the train either for the North or South had to take their tickets in happy ignorance of when they wero to start. There is not in the ticket office even a copy of the ordinary time table posted, and it is necessary to risk breaking your shins over porters' barrows and stray luggage in order to inspect the solitary copy on the platform. It is surely not asking too much if we suggest that legibly-printed copies of the time tabic?, ordinary and special, should bo kept posted in somo conspicuous and accessible places outside the station, and that at all events these should appear in the ticket-office. Everybody cannot afford to take in tho 'Daily TimcV in order to have the advaLtxge of tli9 occasional insertion of the time - tables in such minute print as to be practically use. less. 4-t the country stations the ap. pearance of a time-table is quite the exception ; for instance, there is not a copy posted at Ravensbourne ; but it must be acknowledged that at Port Chalmers until recently there were two, one of which, being a Jew months old, was exceedingly useful.

The adjutant of the 82nd Regiment, stationed at Limerick, wrote out r>y the last mail to ex-Curtain Lillicrap, of Invercargill: —"Matters are not settled yet; it is my opinion that we shall be in the thick of it before lone;." Mr Buchanan's work on New Zealand grasses will shortly be published in octavo iorm. The Government having found that it would be too oxpeusive to distribute the quarto edition gratuitously, the five plates in the quarto editions have been reduced to octavo size.

" Struck Oil" is going to be a big draw to the Princess's. On Saturday night it was impossible to accommodate all who wanted to witness it. Those who were fortunate to obtain seaks were rewarded with excellent acting on the part of Mr Baker as John Stofel, and in seeing him well supported. The Colonial Secretary informed a deputation that waited on him at Christchurch c hospital arrangements that nothing was further from the wishes of the Government than to introduce a poor law. They had adopted a system by which all contributions, whether in the shape of grants from local public bodies or of contributions from individuals, should bs subsidised from the Consolidated Revenue, to the extent of £ for £. Every kind of contribution, even such as resulted from bazaars or benefit entertainments, would be considered as entitled to the Government subsidy. It was desirable that the country should be divided into separate groups for certain centres in winch the machinery of hospitals and charitable aid could be most efficiently worked. Before arranging these groups the Government wished to consult with, and obtain the advice of, those most interested aud best acquainted with the various localities, so as to ensure an economical expenditure and the greatest possible freedom from risk of imposture.

A circumstance that happened there one day last week shows that things have come to a pretty pass at the Westport State school. The boys of the first class, or at least a portion "of them, had formed a "mutualprotection society," with intent to mob the master should he, in their opinion, unjustly or excessively punish one of their number. Naturally, it must be inferred from the combination of the scholars to defend each other that the master had been ill-treating then. On the other hand, it is said that the spirit of insubordination is of long standing; that the school was, when the present master entered it, in a terrible state of disorder, and that lie has accomplished a good deal in reducing it to even its present state of discipline. The schoolmaster was administering a little caning, when the caned hand closed and obtained possession of the weapon. Other hands helped, and sad be it, but it remains to be reported that the schoolmaster was pummelled on the floor. The local paper says that the previous master was able to maintain good order by moral suasion alone. The City Guards' Band give an extended dance programme this evening in the Ootagon drillshed. A meeting of the friendß and supporters of Mr F. S. Fish, for the coming Mayoral election, are hj vitod to meet i» Watson'd Hotel this evening at 8 sharp.