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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 165, 17 July 1867, Page 2

A meetiug was held yesterday eveniDg,ttt the Bauk Hotel, pursuant to advertisement, to receive the report of the Pro- 4 visional Committee, appointed at a former

taeeting to collect information and obtain ■plans and estimates with a view to the erection of a Theatre and Assembly Rooms by a public company. We regret that our space will not permit us to print the Committee's report-, which, we may state, is favorable to the project, a capital" of £3000 being considered sufficient for the purpose, with reasonable expectation of a fair dividend, based on the recfeipts derived in former years in this city from the very limited and inadequate accommodation hitherto available. The report, which was accompanied with outline plans of the proposed building, aud which bore evident marks of much thoughtful consideration, was favorably received by the meeting, which was adjourned until Friday evening next, when it is hoped that a sufficient number of shares will be taken up to enable a permanent Direction to be formed at once. We are gratified to be able to inform our readers that an arrangement has been entered into between the Government and Messrs. T. Mackay aud Snow, under the express sanction of his Honor the Superintendent, by which those gentlemen have undertaken to cut a track, four feet wide, from the Baton store to the forks of the Karanlea, for the sum of £100. This arrangement has, therefore, taken the place of that alluded to in our issue of yerterday, as having been proposed at the instance of some miners from the West Coast dispatched from that locality for the purpose. We understand, however, that these individuals are desirous of accompanying Messrs. Mackay and Snow, a fact which serves strongly to illustrate the confidence which is reposed in the statements made by Mr. Arthur Collins in reference to Hough's Pass, and they will probably join the party. As the contract for the formation of the track has been taken at the very lowest figure, in order to set at rest for ever the question of the accessibility of this pass, it. has been proposed to furnish the party with provisions for the trip, which will probably occupy about three weeks' time. Mr. Everett, of the Bank Hotel, has already offered lOOlbs. of flour for this purpose, and we may reasonably presume that the merchants and others who will, after all, be the* largest gainers by the results of this enterprise, will not be slow to offer their contributions also. r — — One of those miserable canards, destitute alike of wit and veracity, and which, we regret to say, are only too frequently disseminated in this community, gained considerable currency in the town this morning. We allude to the reported loss of -the ship Countess of Kintore, which left Fort Unde rwood on 'the 11th February last, conveying mauy of our Nelson citizens to the home country. We have made every inquiry, and have thoroughly satisfied ourselves that not the slightest foundation exists for such a rumor. No telegram has been i-eceived. of the arrival of the Rangitoto at the Bluff with the English June mail, neither had intelligence of any kind whatever in relation to the Countess of Kintore reached her agents, Messrs N. Edwards & Co. The report probably originated in the news received by last mail of the arrival, after a passage of 74 days, of the Electra, which started four days before the Countess of Kintore. This however was plainly an exceptionally good passage, and affords no argument whatever against the safety of the latter vessel. The most appropriate penalty, combined with" tarring and feathering, which could be inflicted upon the heartless miscreants who invent' such groundless falsehoods, would be full participation in the misery ard painful anxiety which they occasion to relatives and friends. We find on enquiry that we were in terror in stating that Mr. Justice Richmond had been prevented lay iliness from pro-

ceeding to Wellington on Monday last, in order to be present at the sittings of the Appeal Court. The Jud<?e was suddenly taken ill on Saturday evening, and it was supposed that his departure on Monday wouid be quite out of the question. We are gratified to find, however, that the Judge was sufficiently recovered, though still far from well, to take his passage in the Otago on Monday evening. We have been requested to draw the atteution of ratepayers who may happen to be in arrears, to the fact that the 19th inst.-, as we have already stated, is the period fixed for the payment, at the office of the Board of Works, of rates due for the current year. After that date the accounts will be sued for, according to the terms of an advertisement which has appeared in our columns in several of our late issues. Mr. George Macfarlan, of the firm of Macfarlan and Nottidge, solicitors, has heen elected member for Lyttekon in the General Assembly, and Mr. J. Stedholme member for Kaiapo. The Ashley district is without a member. An enterprising quack has contrived to extract from sausages a powerful tonic, which he says contains the whole strength of the original bark; he calls it the "sulphate of canine." There has been a change lately in the Governorship of the Bank of England, but very few persons are aware how important that office is. In old times, when " things were easy," public opiuion lax and uninformed, and the value of money compartively fixed and unvarying, the post of Governor was in great part one of diguity aud routine. But it is not so now. A great deal is thrown upon his individual judgment. Fe is, if we might venture to say so, mayor of the palace. The directors rule in the last resort, but the chief magistrate, who acts and administers day by day, has a personal responsibility which cannot be communicated to and can scarcely "be shared by any one. He has also to give up practically his whole business day to the affairs of the Bank, and that is a considerable sacrifice on the part of persons upon their own account eugaged in important and profitable transactions. The Governor who has just served the office, Mr. Holland, has had a most unusual share of these .labours, anxieties, and responsibilities. He had to manage the panic of May, 1866, the most sudden and rapid panic which has ever come over the money market, and which, therefore, threw the greatest individual responsibility upon the Governor of the Bank and gave him least time' and opportunity to consult others. We are only expressing the unanimous opinion of competent judges when we venture to say that Mr. Holland may well be proud of the tact, discretion, and temper with which he met a duty so unexpected and delicate.