Hawke's Bay Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1577.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3895, 11 April 1877, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1577.

The Otago Times is much distressed at the political apathy of the people of Dunedin. It is of opinion ' that such apathy is by no means a healthy condition of things, and goes on to observe that it is the more remarkable because of the extreme excitement which characterised political matters last year. "No doubt," it says, "in a very large degree, the torpor that is now shown is caused by the new Constitutional arrangements, which, by taking the Government to a distance has rendered it difficult to the majority here to find out what is going on." We think it must also, to some extent, be due to the circumstance that the Otago peoi>le are, at least, moderately well satisfied with what they can find out as to what is going on, and that their desire for insular separation was not of the passionate character that many of their representatives tried to make us believe.

The fifth " annual report and balancesheet" of the Napier Grammar School Company has been circulated among the shareholders, in anticipation of the annual general meeting to be hold on the 17th instant. The directors state that the revenue and expenditure are very nearly balanced, the only source from which the company derives any funds being the rental paid for the premises by the Rev. Mr Irvine, which is £160, and as the annual unavoidable expenditure is £157, there only remains the sum of £3 for the incidental expenses of the year. The excess of receipts over expenditure in the present balance-sheet is accounted for by the fact that some school fees were received during the past year, and also some overdue calls. The balance-sheet shows the receipts to have been £199 17s -7d, and the expenditure £166 9s. The assets consist of the balance between the receipts and expenditure, £33 8s 7d, and a quarter's rent of the premises, £40. The liabilities amount to £37 10s. It is exceedingly satisfactory to find that the institution is at any rate self-supporting. Most of the shareholders, no doubt, regarded the calls which they occasionally had to pay in the light of subscriptions in aid of a most important public object, and would not have begrudged paying more of them in order to see that object effectually carried out. If, however, they find that it is being carried out without any further drain on their pockets, they will find in that circumstance no doubt an additional ground of satisfaction.

The death, we observe by an English telegram in the Melbourne Argus, is announced of Mr Walter Bagehot, the editor of the Economist. Mr Bagehot was for long more or less of an invalid. One of the most popular, and best known

| of his books, "Lombard-street," as he tells us. himself, was written in the intervals of a lingering malady. Had it not been for this circumstance, there is no doubt that he would have done much greater things in the world than, as a matter of fact, he has done. His three books — on the English Constitution, on the money market ("Lombard-street"), and on the Darwinian theory, as applied to the history of civilisation (" Physics and Politics ") — all of them smalloctavo volumes — are, to our thinking, the best that have been written on these several subjects. They evince a power of speculative thought not a whit inferior to that of Mr Mill, without the drawback of MiMill's dreary and prosaic style, or the liability to which that great thinker was so subject of riding his theories to death.

The opening of the railway to Lawrence, Otago, was the subject of a demonstration last week in that township. The Oiar/o Times says, " It was remarked by J all the guests of the day on their road to Lawrence that the engineering difficulties to be encountered were so great, and the countiy so broken, that it was wonderful that the line should only cost £S,OOO per mile. The difficulties of the way were of such a nature that we may safely say that they have not been often encountered and overcome in all the annals of railway progress for the purpose of giving a line to so small a handful of people." If only a few of the sheep farmers in the Porangahau neighborhood could be induced to cut up a portion of their runs, the branch line to that district would soon pass out of the range of tilings visionary and into the range of things real and practical. They would soon find it pay them tenfold to subdivide in part, by the immensely enhanced value of the remainder.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before J. A. Smith and A. Kennedy, Esqs. , Justices of the Peace, William Young, who had been arrested for drunkenness and released on depositing £1 in lieu of bail, did not appear when called, and his bail was ordered to be forfeited. — John Andrews pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing, on the 9th instant, an overcoat valued at £2 5s from the shop of Messrs Neal and Close, and another coat valued at 19s 6d from the shop of Mr Thomas Harkis. The prisoner was sentenced to three months' hard labor. In reply to the Bench, Inspector Scully said the man was not known to him. He appeared to be considerably distressed when in the box, and cried a good deal. He is stated to be a stranger in Napier, and that he only very recently arrived from Taupo, where he was working on the roads. Mr W. Graham requests us to contradict the statement that he has sold out of the Heretaunga Special Settlement. We were certainly informed that a Mr Graham had sold out. It may not, however, have been Mr W. Graham. We have heard of other instances in which sales have been effected of shares in these settlements, the purchaser, of course, being approved by the rest of the association, and we see no reason why sales under such conditions should be restricted. Indeed, it might fairly be contended that they should be encouraged. The Canterbury Press publishes the following from its own correspondent in Napier : — " Two thousand claims to vote have been received by the returning officer for the electoral districts of Clive and Napier, but of these 400 are natives in the Clive district. Should they get on the roll, the effect will be that Sheehan will be able to swamp the European votes, thereby ousting Ormond," The number of Native claims to vote is nothing like that stated. The list of voters for revision is now posted up, and we find that instead of 400 native claims in the Clive district there are 82. In the Napier district there are 134. The Napier Land and Building Society, No. 4, announce in our advertising columns that the Society commenced business on Monday last, the 9th April, and that the secretary will now receive applications for shares and advances. We are glad to hear that the shares are rapidly .being taken up, and there appears every prospect of the society being successful. The following, in refei'ence to the Davenport Brothers, who are to appear in Napier on Friday next, is taken from a Wellington paper : — " A biography of the Davenport Brothers, published some time ago by Saunders, Otley, and Co. , of London, states that they were born in Buffalo, State of New York. In 1850 the western part of New York was disturbed by the "Rochdale Knockings," in which the elder Davenport was a believer. His family held sittings. The result was that they had loud knockings. On the third evening they had writing, and on the fifth some extraordinary spectral performances. The next sitting was a memorable one. The boys Ira and William and their sister were floated in the air over the heads of a large number of persons who had collected to witness the seance. It is alleged that on one occasion the brothers were carried sixty miles in a brief space of time by some inextricable agency. They then began their extraordinary rope-tying performances." We learn that since the washing ashore of the case of gin, to which we referred in Monday's issue, some broken cases of oranges have also been washed up, and it is now believed that neither these nor the case of gin are from the cargo of the Clyde, but from the wreck of some other vessel. An appeal against the election for the Waipukurau riding has been lodged by one of the candidates — Mr H. R. Russell — and two electors. The grounds are that the Ruatuniwha roll was not a buna fide or legal roll : that while at Waipukurau only single votes were allowed to persons on that roll, at Ashley-Clinton plural voting Avas allowed ; and that for the Makeretu district only those persons who were on the Assembly roll were permitted to vote. We hear that a billiard match for £5 a-side will be played this evening, between two local amateurs, at Mayo's Empire Hotel. Play will commence at 8 o'clock. The information respecting the sums contributed to the funds of the Fire Brigade by the insurance offices, the correctness of which is denied in last evening's Telegraph, was brought to us, we may say, by the agent to the New Zealand Insurance Company, and was stated to have been the result of careful enquiry. The Pall Mall Gazette gives the following account of the opening of Parliament by the Queen : — " Parliament was opened on Thursday by the Queen in person. The ceremonial was favored with the proverbial ' Queen's weather,' and great crowds assembled along the route taken by the Royal procession, and loudly cheered her Majesty as she passed, accompanied by the Princess Louise and the Princess Beatrice. In another of the Royal carriages were the two elder sons of the Prince of Wales. The Prince and the Princess, the Duke of Cambridge, and the Prince and Princess Christian had gone clown to Westminster before the State procession, and awaited her Majesty's arrival. The House of Lords was filled some time before the Queen left Buckingham Palace, and presented a very brilliant spectacle. The representatives of foreign Powers assembled in great force, and among them were the envoys from China, whose Tartar huad-dross made them conspicuous on the second row of the Ambassadors' benches, the representatives of Persia, Russia, Turkey, Spain, and the United States. On the Queen's entry into the chamber the Commons were summoned, and the Lord Chancellor, having received the Royal Speech from her Majesty, read it. When the Lord Chancellor had concluded, the Queen descended the steps of the throne, kissed the Princess of Wales, who was on the woolsack, and gave her hand to bo

kissed by the Duke of Cambridgo and the Duke of Teck, who stood together in the gangway, beside the bishops, and to the Prince of Wales. The brilliant assemblage then immediately broke up, and the Royal procession drove from Old Palace Yard, amid the clanging of the bells, the salvoes of the artillery in the Park, and the cheers of the populace." An old bachelor compares life to a shirt button — it so often han»s by a thread. ° J The Ohinemuri correspondent of the Thames Advertiser writes: — "Sub-In-spector Bullen, who is now in charge of this district, came up to-day on a visit of inspection. On his way np he seized a keg of leaden bullets, which was being transhipped from the Ruby to the Riroriro, for conveyance to Te Aroha. The keg was in a dirty sack, and was supposed to be a parcel of corned beef. The affair has caused a great sensation here. The keg and contents were lodged, on arrival at Paeroa, at the A.C. station, and there will, of course, be an investigation. Ema Te Aoru, I hear, claims the keg as her property. " As a proof of the increase in the value of land in the neighborhood of Marton, the Advocate mentions that recently two lots were sold, one at £7 and the other at £5 per acre. A few years since the same lots were sold for £3 and £2 15s per acre respectively. The land lies on either side of the township and within a twenty minutes' ride of it. One lot comprised 40 and the other 250 acres. The " Ladies' Letter from Paris" in the Dunedin Star, contains the following in reference to Albani, the favorite prima. donna, who is now taking a leading position at the London opera, houses ; — " It is a long time since we had a celebrity so popular as Emma Albani. She has literally taken the town by storm, and surpasses in the welcome' extended to her that given to Patti or Nilsson. The public never warmed to the latter in this country ; and as for Patti, she suffers from the reputation of being griping on the subject of money matters, and has, in addition, a Bonapartist husband. However, Albani, Nilsson, Patti, Frezzolini, are all cords of the same lyre, whose respective tone we do not discuss, but listen to all, while being charmed with each. Three years ago Emma Albani was a bird of passage at Paris, whose voice lacked culture and practice, but contained . all the conditions of excellence, and she now returns with professional defects remedied, and predictions realised. She is so modest, too ; her salons are crowded with the most distinguished personages in Paris, who desire to render homage to her talent, and she receives the admirers with the most unaffected simplicity. Her distinctive characteristic is not beauty but grace ; she has all the physical qualities for the stage, and sings and acts while remaining ever true to herself. It is this absence of arts — of professional coquetry that has won her so many friends. The ladies remark her exquisite taste in toilettes ; nothing faulty under the heads of shades and fit, and all worn with that quiet ease indicative of the true- elegante. Dinners are given in her honor, and the most costly bouquets are presented to her at the theatre. Soon she will require a phaeton to cany home her corbeilles of roses and violets. Her singing in " Lucia di Lanimermoor" has, according to the best judges, never been surpassed." The Pall Mall Gazette, referring to Albani's success in Paris this season, says : — " We can but rejoice to hear all this of the Canadian girl who only four or five years ago arrived in Europe friendless and unknown ; having no encouragement but confidence in the possession of powers which only needed study and hard work to give her success. So she worked on ; obliged meanwhile to sing in public in order to provide means for instruction. It must be very pleasant now to look back on those years of resolute perseverance under difficulties." One of the candidates for a seat in the Victorian Parliament is a Dr. Macartney. The Otago Times' Melbourne correspondent says of him : — " Dr. Macartney — now a teetotal lecturer and candidate for Parliament — -was once a clergyman of the Church of England, but left that position on the ground that it did not afford scope for the movement of large intellect. The other day he was announced to lecture at the Temperance Hall, but in the afternoon the evening paper rame out with a report of an application made to the Supreme Court by the wife of Dr Macartney to be permitted to file a petition of divorce against him for drunkenness, ill-usage, and unfaithfulness. " Mr J. J. Tye will hold a sale of drapery and clothing, at the Rechabite Hall, Waipawa, to-morrow (Thursday), at 12 o'clock noon. Messrs Routledge, Kennedy and Co. will sell to-day, at noon, the premises lately in the occupation of MrK. Nasmith, Port Ahuriri, including plant, machinery, tools, itc. The sale will be held on the premises. The Dunedin Corporation the N.Z. Times) does not seem to manage its gas works so well as has been claimed for it. The gas committee lately brought up a report alleging that the supply of gas at 12s 6d per 1000 ft. would result in a loss of £000 for the year, and recommending that meter rents be reimposed to make up the deficiency. The report was rejected, the Mayor, who was one of the opponents to its adoption, saying, that as a private concern he would only be glad to take the works over and supply gas at its present price, giving the Corporation 10 per cent, on their outlay. The Chinese who arrived by the Gloucester, at Dunedin, have been vaccinated. Some discussion arose with reference to the propriety of Dr. Burns, the Public Vaccinator, visiting the vessel for tho purpose. The Otago Times, however, feels satisfied that the public opinion of the town will be found on the side of humanity :— -" A few possibly, though we think very few, of the more pusillanimous among \is may be inclined to wish that the Chinese had been left to their fate. It is a matter of experience, that fear beyond all other feelings makes men extremely and shamefully selfish. We believe that the unbiassed public opinion of the place will be united in saying, that in going to the island to give such medical aid as was necessary, Dr. Burns has done his duty and no more than his duty." "The latest accounts (it says in another place) of the condition of the Chinese on board the Gloucester and on the Quarantine Island are satisfactory. All are progressing favorably, and no indication of an extension of the disease is apparent. " Elderly people never jest or chaff" in France. It is considered there bad in age. There are some facts in connection with the fall in the price of wool recently telegraphed from London which, when considered, will show that the prices which ruled at the close of last sales can hardly be taken as affecting New Zealand so much as might be at first supposed. It will have been noticed that at the last sales very little New Zealand wool was catalogued, and that the decline in price was said to have been confined to the very inferior sorts. Now, a largo quantity of Australian wool was catalogued, and in memory of the severe droughts which affected the sister colonies this season, it is not difficult to guess that the wool sent Home from there would be of a very inferior quality ; indeed so poor as almost in itself to account for no small proportion of the fall in price recorded. It in pretty evident that we must wait until this season's wool from Now Zealand has been submitted to competition before we c;t;i pronounce definitely as to how far tho last reported decline in Mio price of wot;] will affect this colony : and as there has been a most favorable season in Now Zealand, it is reasonable to suppose that we have not much to fear. — JJr.S r . Z. Times.

Mr Henry Driver, of Dunedin, on April 4th reports with reference to wool : — The London wool sales closed on the 28th tilt. Greatest reduction in price on medium and inferior. Choice fleeces and lambs' were scarce and brought good prices. As we have remarked some weeks ago, the reduced price was principally caused by the faulty condition of the Australian clip, which preponderated at these sales. In this market there is a good demand for combing fleece at a slight reduction on late rates. There is very .little coming forward, the bulk of the clip being shipped. In some recent excavations at Pompeii a small tavern has been brought to light ; the table round which the company sat, and the earthenware pots out of which they had been drinking, were still preserved. On the walls, also, were paintings representing various drinking scenes, with inscriptions in explanation of their meaning.

The London correspondent of a contemporary states : — ' ' By the by, a very striking Scotch story has just been published in that unromanatic publication, the Law lleports. The chief of a wellknown clan married a lady, who, it now appears, was not only married before, but had a living husband. Moreover, a child was born to the chief. Can you imagine a more . unpleasant complication in a strongly hereditary circle ? What was to be done I Why, this. Inquiries were instituted. The first husband was found to be already married when he wedded the lady, so their union was pronounced null and void, and consequently, the second marriage legal. I mention this to show the unacknowledged obligations that people often owe to writers of fiction. This is one of them, for I distinctly remember a novel — and of recent date too — in which these very circumstances were described — The first husband, indeed, was a scoundrel who was continually asking for " hush money," an occurrence which does not seem to have taken place in the real case. But that only shows the superiority of fiction to fact. It is more than probable that the remembrance of the imaginary stoiy put the gallant chief on the right way of getting out of his matrimonial difficulty. If so, I think he ought to have ' remembered' the author also.' ! We learn from a Taieri settler that, after the late floods subsided, hundreds of trout, weighing from lib to 51b each, were caught in pools. — Otago Times. In reference to the dead heat recorded as having .been rowed between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, we may state that it is the first time on record when such a termination to a race rowed by eight-oared crews over a four and a half mile course has been recorded. It was generally believed that the crew which had a clear lead through Hammersmith Bridge (2i miles) would win, until this theory was upset in 1865, and confirmed in '06 and '67, the reason being that it was also thought that before 2; miles were rowed, the superiority of one crew over another would assert itself. In this instance we have two crews,- each unable to shake the other oft', except, perhaps, for a few strokes, over four miles and a half. The closest finishes over the same course prior to the race of Saturday were in 1857, when Cambridge, with J. Hall stroke, beat Oxford, H. T. Thorley, stroke, by three-quarters of a length, and in 1867, when Oxford, R. C. Marsden, stroke, beat Cambridge, W. Griffiths, stroke, by half a length. It will be observed that the unit figure in the three years of close races lias been 7. — Thames Evening Star. The Bishop of Manchester, in connection with the Church of England " mission " in that city recently, delivered two addresses on the 2nd February, from the stages of the Theatre Royal and the Princes Theatre. On both occasions the actors, members of the ballet, and subordinates were present in large mmibers. The Bishop, at the Theatre Royal, adverted to St. Paul being advised not to adventure himself into a theatre, and said he (the Bishop) was probably the first Bishop of the Church of England, if not the first Bishop of the Christian Church, who had ever addressed a congregation in a theatre. He observed that the Puritan attempt to abolish theatres altogether was followed by a violent reaction in the shape of the immoral plays of the Restoration. On this head he quoted an article from a theatrical paper on " stage decorum," to show that we are not very much better than our ancestors, and that the immorality which then assailed the ear now tempts the eye. He did not, he said, want to abolish the theatre, but to purify it and make it a harmless instrument of recreation. With such illustrious names as Macready, Charles Kean, and Miss Helen Faucet before him he did not think the stage should necessarily be degraded. Afterwards the Bishop spoke at the Prince's Theatre much in the same strain, on the evils and allurements of the ballet. It was, lie acknowledged, difficult to bring about a reform, but if managers and actors in theatres would co-operate he believed that the public taste for amusement might be purified, and the theatre made an instrument of good. ■ The municipality of Oamaru have adopted bye-laws for the regulation of theatres, &c. , which impose, among other things, fines not exceeding £5 for taking a dog, cat, or other animal to any public entertainment ■; or for interrupting a performance, or annoying any of the audience by using loud and unseemly ejaculations, swearing, smoking, &c. The offender against good manners is also liable to forcible expulsion. — Dunedin Star. The Philadelphia Public Ledger says that among the articles of luxury purchased for the use of the United States Senate during the year ended June 30 last were ten gallons of e ( au-de-cologne, thirteen gallons of bay rum, one dozen and a • half bottles of Martinique snuff, and lOOlbs of camphor. The two last items were for the Senate Chamber. The price paid for the Five Rivers and Merivale Estates, purchased very recently by Ellis Brothers, is stated by the Southland Times to have been £115,000. The works at the National Opera House on the Thames Embankment, which have been suspended for some time, will, it is stated, shortly be resumed, Mr Mapleson having succeeded in raising the £130,000 necessary to complete the building. Meanwhile Her Majesty's Theatre in the Haymarket is advertised for sale by auction. The World gives the following, headed " A Contemporaneous Tragedy" : — Scene : Constantinople. Persons reprsented : A Secretary of H.B.M.'s Embassy; an Attache of H. B. M. 's Embassy. Secretary : Stay, old fellow ; where do you dine tonight \ With the professionals or with the amateurs \ Attache : Must do the Salisburys this time. Can't help myself. Shall drop back to Sir Henry to-morrow. Secretary (sardonically): Then you just mention to them casually about this British eleven that's gone out all the way to Australia to play the indigenous savages, and has got its head whopped off in one innings, with four hundred runs to spare. It'll console them. Parallel case, you know. Attache (with an exulting, fiendish, gloating chuckle) ; Won't I ! The Honor list for the University of Cambridge, just to hand, contains the name of Mr. Edward Hutton Bell, who is ranked fortieth, with several others equal. It is stated that he is a, Pensioner of St. John's, ii native of New Zealand, and a rowing num. It is needless almost to add that ho is a son of Sir F. D. Bell. — Argus. It is a singular fact that at the two elections when Mr. Travers was an unsuccessful candidate for this city, the show of hands at the nomination was in his favor. On this occasion when ho was in a majority at the ballot-box, the show of hands at the nomination was against him. — Argus,

A strange epidemic among horses has made its appearance in some parts of Scotland, and there are, it is stated, more than 500 horses at the present moment suffering from its effects in Edinburgh. The disease commences with great weakness and swelling of the eyes and limbs, the left eye, in the majority of cases, being afflicted more than the right. There is also frequently intestinal disorder, arid spots appear ori the tongUe as though from blood poisoning. The attack lasts on the average from five to twelve days. Opinions appear to differ as to whether it is infectious or not ; at any rate, it is spreading rapidly, and affects horses, indiscriminately in all classes of stables. One case has occurred to a cow suffering from it, and, as the animal was stalled beside a

pony which had also suffered from it, there seems reason to fear that the diaease must be infectious". On the other hand, instances are mentioned of horses escaping the disease altogether, although occupying stables where several other horses were attacked. The dampness of the atmosphere which has lately prevailed is supposed to have originated the epidemic, and indeed the abnormal state of the weather dining the last six weeks is quite sufficient to account for any amount of sickness, not only in the stable, but also in the kennel. We take the following items from a Victorian contemporary : — Sheep are selling in the Western district at from 7d to lid per head, and in Adelaide 2d. This is owing to the scarcity of food and water. — A wealthy resident at Stawell named David Constable was fined £20 recently by the local Bench for sending indecent valentines through the post-office. — At Eaglehawk a young lady las served an apprenticeship as a watch and clock maker, and opened a shop. A selector in the district also boasts that his six daughters can fence land with any half-dozen workmen in the country. — On a day named, a Mr Sibbald, while working on his section at the Caledonian Flat, Inglewood, dug up a mass ef living creatures, which, he soon ascertained to be no less than sixteen black snakes, the longest being upwards of 7 feet 6 inches, and the smallest 2 feet. Mr Sibbald killed every one. The Coromandel correspondent of the Auckland Star says that the plant of the Coromandel Mail has been purchased by Mr Webb, of Gisborne, who intends starting the Wairoa Free Press at Clyde, Wairoa, at an early date. Mr James Browne (" Snyder"), the present editor of the Poverty Bay Standard, was formerly proprietor of the Mail. The following paragraph is extracted from the Adelaide evening paper : — "We are informed that about six weeks ago a man residing at Oaklands, York's Peninsula, sent his son, aged about 14, down a rather deep well to fetch up a bucket. When the boy had descended, the father, to save himself the trouble of winding up, ordered the boy to make fast to the rope, which the man attached to a team of bullocks and drove them along, drawing the rope over the windlass. The boy was drawn to the top, both his arms were broken, and he, with the bucket, was then precipitated to the bottom of the Avell whence he was taken up dead, with his neck, it is said, broken. He was buried without an inquest or inquiry of any kind." The following appears in the Canterbury Press, under the heading Theatrical Gossip : — We understand that Mr J. K. Emmett intends taking another tour down the Island from Auckland. Cooper and Bailey's Mammoth Circus leaves Australia for New Zealand on 7th April, and will probably open in Dunedin first. The Lydia Howard Troupe appears to be getting small by degrees and beautifully less, as we hear that the latest secession is Miss Jennie Nye. Mrs Scott-Siddons returns here after the close of her Wellington season, and plays at the Theatre Royal. The Fakir of Oolu, who hasbeen doing good business in Melbourne, also, we believe, contemplates another New Zealand tour, having added several novelties to his repertoire. Mr and Mrs Bates are not doing well in Sydney, whilst Mr Dampier at the opposition house is drawing crowded houses. Mdlle. Titiens recently sangatthe Guildhall, Plymouth, and in response to an encore gave the well-known song, " Kathleen Mavourneen." In noticing this the Western Morning News tells the following story : — " The author of ' Kathleen Mavourneen' was Mr. Crouch, a Plymouth music-master, who received for the copyright a£s note. He left the town a quarter of a century ago. Exactly a year ago, Mdlle. Titiens, being in New York, gave ' Kathleen' as an encore, the only time she did so while in the States. It excited a furore of applause, and when it had subsided she was told that some man, presumed to be a lunatic, was fighting his way over the barriers from the pit to the flies (it was in the Opera House), saying he was determined to speak to Titiens. The^Wma donna, told them to let him come in. On entering, he burst into tears, sobbing out, ' Oh, Mdlle. Titiens, I never before heard my song sung as you have just sung it ! ' ' Your song ! ' was the reply, ' why you are not Crouch, surely?' C I am, indeed,' rejoined the poor old composer, ' and I felt I must thank you myself. ' Crouch had scraped together the two dollars for a pit seat, little thinking to hear his now famous song made the most telling morceau of the night." The Press Dramatic Club in Dunedin have in hand, for performance, an original burlesque on " Abolition." It would be rather .painful work to listen to it, we should say. A new bridge across the Thames, in London, is in contemplation. Its position is to be lower down the river than London bridge. The cost is estimated at £250,000. The tune for opposing the Bill axithorising the erection of the bridge, expired on January 9, and no opposition was lodged.