TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 1931, 26 February 1867, Page 2

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

West Coast Road TiuFnc.-The following is the return of cattle and, sheep driven past the Kangiriri Station, during the week ending Feb. . : 20;.5~ Cattle,l62; sheep, 270.; total, 432. High Schooi, LECTDSES.MDr. Haaat'a. third and concluding lecture oil Geology, embracing, chiefly the geology of the province, will' be delivered this evening in the Town flail, at half-past seven:o'clock. . The Bishop of Christchorch.—We have ■been requested to state that the Lord Bishop; of Christchurch, who was a passenger to Dunedin by the Otago on Feb, 16, will remain in the southern portion of the diocese for. about a fortnight.. . . ' The "Wek : Coast Road Mtodk.—Nofurther, intelligence has been, received tending to throw any light upon this mysterious affair.; Th» adjourned inquesj will be held this day, at the Royal Hotel, at 10 a.m.

The Panama Mail.—Our express irora Lyttelton,- announcing the arrival of the Panama mail, reached our office at an early hour this morning. Our files of Panama papers were not received! The papers from the northern provinces contain no.news of special interest. The Tunnel.—There only remains to be, driven about 80 yards, according to the contract measurement.. The. miners ,on the Heathcote side now hear distinctly everyblow of the hammers of those, advancing to meet. them from Lyttelton; • The nature of the rock has changed for the worse during the past week, and is now very hard. The Confession of. Murdkr Case.— We have been requested to correct a slight error in our report of the proceedings at the Resident Magistrate's Court Lyttelton.: Mr Vickers in ' his evidence said that, "he believed that the prisoner was in Hobart Town at.' ; the time of: the murder," and not, as was stated in our report,;" that he believed the prisoner wai the. person- who Committed the niuf<jer;" . was .held to-day, at Papanui, before Mr; J. W. S. Cowardi. coroner, and a jury, on tlie body of Barbara Harris, a child of twenty months old, who it was alleged had been drowned by accidentally falling into a creek at the back of her father's. house, .between one and two o'clock, on Saturday last. The coroner and jury being satisfied with the evidence brought forward,returned a.yerdictthat tee child was accidentally drowned in the creek.

< ADjotTRNED Inquest.—The adjourned inquest, on the remains lately found in the Rakaia, waa held yesterday at the Hospital, at 4 p.m., before Mr J. W. S< Coward the Coroner of the district. John Campbell stated that he lived at a station called Waterford, near the Ealcaia, On Siihday,; the 10th inst., he went to an island in, the river and saw the shining of ; a. p a ten t-leath er' gaiter. Subsequently hie saw : some bones,\ and qn.hii arrival in Christchurcii, on the 15thj he 'communicated ..what he. had Ken to the police. He did 1 not know whose remains they were. He returned to the spot with a constable who'collected the bones and brought them to the Hospital. The jury returned a verdict that the remains of the deceased were found upon an island in tho Rakaia, and that it is supposed that he was drowned,' but by what means he came by his death there was, no evidence to shew. Phrenoloot..—Mr Hamilton delivered hii fourth lecture on this subject yesterday evening at the Town Hall, The lecture was a very clever attempt at.solving that quasiio vexata, the harmony of'natural anil revealed, religion with the results of phrenological investigation. Mr Hamilton/dwelt upon the; better organs in the human head. Benevolence was the first which he mentioned, This, he said, led to the exercise of kindly feeling' towards our. fellow-beings, which became developed into that charity which is the! highest characteristic of our nature' Then comes Veneration—not that blind veneration which induces men to follow handed,do^ .to tliem, but that feeling which prompted men to listen to the inward voice of conscience, find to those aspirations after all that: is: good and ennobling.. Atfaiii, these qualities must be Regulated withi-;. out which the two former qualities, l however.' excellent in themselves, would be neutralized, and rendered almost powerless for good.', The lecture was easily and fluently delivered,'and Mr Hamilton was occasionally even eloquent, especially when he dwelt upon' the influence which ;firmnesß had exercised upon working men, and upon the action of criminals, and.expreased luß;convictibii that if tlie 'samf .eiiergyof purpose, and. the same •determinaition of character were employed for the good of ourselves and our neighbours) as were often.displayed, for industrial and. evenVfoV evil purposes, ■ the general- : condition and gradual elevation of jhuniariity ' ; bp-, gradually but surely : effected. ' Tlie hall was well attended. '.K

Town Hall.—The annual general'ineeting of the shareholders : of the Town Hall, Christchurch, was held, yesterday, at the building, tit.l3o. p.m.; Mr Packer occupied tlie chair. Tlie minutes of last meeting were read and. confirmed. Mr W. Wilson, the hon. sec,, . stated that there was a balance of about £162 to the credit of the shareholders, :but that' there was a. considerable sum due by persons who had rented the hall. Mr J. Anderson;: suggested■ that : iio;'credit should be given for the hire of the hall, but that all fcngagements. should be for cash. Mr Wilson stated that in many instances it would be impossible to let the hall on those terms, aa many of the "persons; who hired.it; for tlie purposes of exhibition, &0., had to reap ; llse 111eir profits befof e they could pay the The next business before the meeting was tlie election; of officebearers for; the ensuing year. ; The following were chosen Chairman and Treasurer, M r ! R. Packer '; H on 1 . Seci, Mr W.'; Wilson; Committee, Messrs. J. Anderson, Harrington, Toombs, Nathan, C. Cuff, Mytton, Stringer, Kiver, and H. Packer. The chairman suggested" that, the balance in hand should be retained for tlie present ns the sum was too small to declare a dividend upon. Mr Nathan took the,sauie view, of 1 the subject. It was resolved that the siim of £IOO should be made a fixed deposit at the Bank of New. Zealand. The secretary stated that tlie'Government paid^S'perdayfor. the . use of the old hall. for. the purposes of liohU iug tiie Supreme Court, &c. The freehold property of the ToWh Hall belonged to the shareholders. It waß .valued at : £SOOO, and: the only burden upon it was asum of £I4OO, against; which, as had been mentioned, was the sum of £162, and the outstanding amounts.

. Maoistebiai,.—Yesterday, at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Chriatchurch, before C. Q. Bo.wen, Esq., R.M., the following business waß transacted. John Thomas Henry was charged with being drunk and disorderly, and was admonished and discharged. Robert Thompson was charged with being drunk and riotous in the City Hotel, late on Saturday night. The accused said he had drunk spirits because he had diarrhosa, and he did not know what happened afterwards. His Worship discharged him with an admonition to avoid drunkenness as a cure for diarrhoea, and ithe ;accused promised never to olfend again.' i Hugh O'Neil was charged with bavin g.been drunk and incapable, and was fined ss. Kobert Smith was charged with .having been drunk and incapable, and -was discharged with a caution. Philip Jones was brought up on remand, charged with obtaining [money on account ■of a valueless cheque. Alfred Osborne, the prosecutor, was again placed in the witnessbox. He said that prisoner had at first told him his name was Prosser, and afterwards that it was Wainwright. He had seen prison#: write, but could not say if the paper produced was written by him. George Hall said he was employed in the Bank of New Zealand at Timaru. He did not know the [ signature to the cheque produced. There r was no account in the bank to the name upon it, and there bad not been for the last twelve i. months. He did not know the prisoner, nor any person of the name of Philip Jones. J, Bverard said he came from Dunedin to ;Christchurch in the Geelong, with prisoner, last Thursday fortnight. They were passengers by that vessel. He conversed with prisoner on the passage. Prisoner, mentioned his'name to witness, but he could not remember what it was, It was not Jones. It was a sound like "Wainwright." Sergeant-Major Pardy produced a letter which he said he had found on the prisoner on Saturday last. It was addressed to his Worship. Constable Mossop said he saw the prisoner at the Warwick Hotel on last Sunday week. He went into prisoner's bedroom .there and found the scraps of paper produced. Prisoner admitted to him that he had been ' tearing up papers. The scraps appeared to be part of a letter addressed to Edward Wainwright, New South Wales. Prisoner made no defence, and was committed for trial.

Theatre Rotal.—The Marvels of Peru will draw full houses at the theatre while the variety of the entertainment is fresh, and we venture to say that 110 one will come away disappointed, Miss Fanny Brown, to whom is due-first mention, is an elegant and fascinating actress, possessing powers which, in the pieces she appeared in last night, could 'hardly find room for their full expression. We;do not intend to criticise "Asmodeus" ■ as, under other circumstances, we should have done, nor have we the least intention of finding fault where there was so much excellence and so much to excuse shortcomings. Should "Asmodeus" be acted again Miss Fanny Brown will, we believe, have no Reason to complain that some of her best points were spoilt from hurried rehearsal—for the hitches which occurred were due to nothing else. Mr Fawcett, although he hardly knew his part, acted as well as usual. Mr Streeton will do well to indulge in fewer attempts at impromptu i jokes; one or two of those he gave us last night were more remarkable for point than elegance, and none of them were of such a character as the audiences we hope to sea again in the theatre would tolerate. Miis Fanny Brown was tumultously called for at the fall of the curtain, and received quite ah ovation. But the second part of the performance was even more applauded than, the ■first. Messrs Ross, Carlo, and Wallace, are gymnasts that may be compared with the lenton troupe, who were so ; popular here some time ago, and compared favourably, rln some respects they surpass even the 'Lenton troupe. Mr Ross especially performer! some feats which the audience seemed not to tire of applauding, as well they might. What these artists have to do they do most gracefully, and ,th?re. seemed to us to be a great deal more variety in their feats than we ever remember to, have seen before. Signor Abbecco's execution both as a ■harpist and vocalist, if we may judge from ;the applause he received and the encores lie ■very kindly responded to, were very much appreciated. We prefer Signor Abecco as a harpist; his voice, tfiough powerful and of .considerable compos?, is deficient in that intensity of expression, that thrilling, pleading sweetness, which were so characteristic of /Squires, the besttenor we have had in the Australasian J cqlonies. But as a harpist, :Sigiipr Abecco is perfect, or as near perfection as have any right to expect. Hiscommand over the instrument mustjbe seen to be believed; the sounds he can bring frbm: it, the exquisitely graduated cadences lie, can produce must be heard, for they cannot be described. We don't intend to say what Herr Carlo's "Equilibric Polymorphuses" are.' They are sufficiently original to . .;be copyright, and sufficiently •wonderful to . speak for themselves. Mr Peel's American prize jig is such a piece of pedal dexterity as—we dare say it —no other man in the southern hemisphere could excel. The audience seem td so pleased ■ with it that we almost anticipated an encore. But such a thing is, of course, impossible, the mere physical exertion being such as no man could repeat at such short notice. Messrs. Iloss and Carlo came before the audience a second time, in what the bill very modestly calls acrobatic feats; feats of Herculean strength, exhibiting the perfection of gymnastic'training would be a description much hearer the mart. The farce of the "Eton Boy," very well acted, concluded the evening's : perforinances. While the management continue to product : an ; entertainment so varied and so attractive they must secure full houses.

. A Steam Eodte.—The London and China ■Exams states, that the San Francisco, Japan ana' China line, connecting New York via Panama is about to become an accomplished fact. The precursor of this steam line 1 will be despatched on the Ist of January next, a vessel of four thousand tons burden, named the" Colorado" will have the honor of opening the line. From New York to Hongkong ■the passage will occupy forty-five days. At the commencement, the steamers will run only, once a month. The question is under consideration whether the vessels should call at the Sandwich Islands on the way to Japatj from San Francisco. Making the passage from iSfew York to Hongkong, by the route through England, the time occupied is fiftyseven days. A saving of twelve days will be effected to passengers starting from the port of departure at New York, to reach any p'oint in China. ; . ; . Point de Galle.—The Calcutta Englishman has the following regarding Point de Gfalie :—The importance of Point de, Galle in the. communication between Great Britain and her Eastern colonies is, we believe, likely at last to recognised, and the useless and' defenceless state of the harbour to be re-| medied. The plan proposed is, to carry a breakwater from the point of what is called .Gibbons Hill, on tbe right side of the entrancej to the sunken rocks on the left side nOw marked by buoys. These works will effectually shut out the heavy swell from the harbour, rendering it safe at all seasons; and by contracting the entrance and throwing it more to the West or town side, render it perfectly easy of access for vessels at night. The defences will consist of a strong work on the .top of Gibbons Hill, which, from the nature of the ground;-will be perfectly impregnable to assault, aud which will command the. harbour, town and isthmus, and of an iron-clad floating battery of immense power, kept ready on any emergency to be moored immediately inside the entrance, manned by the Artillery force. It must he satisfactory .to all interested in the East, to see Point de Galle .valued, as one of the great stragetic points of the world, as it undoubtedly is, being to the Overland route what the Cape was to the long sea route. Englishmen of the present day have little enough to make them proud of their country's position "among nations, but it would be humiliating indeed, to see, in the. event of" hostilities breaking out with any naval Power, an enemy's iron-clad taking possession of Galle, with its stores of coal, and cutting off ill intercourse between England and the East, except such as would be, perhaps, kept up with difficulty and slowness by the Bombay

'route. There is absolutely nothing whatever at the present mopent,;.eitJ>er on shore or afloat, to prevent such a' coup de main being carried out by an armed vessel, and once effected, many months would elapse before the mischief done could possibly be repaired. In addition to the works of defence, we believe that it is intended at last to erect the light-house on the Bas9e3, the stone and iron for which has lain useless so, many years at Galle. This is a work of undoubted importance, but very secondary to the other, in which the honour of England is so deeply concerned. . . . ,