Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 3985, 20 August 1874, Page 2

The City Board of Commissioners met yesterday afternoon, at the offices of the City Council. His Worship the Mayor presided. Various matters of business were disposed of, a report of which will be found elsewhere.

A preliminary meeting, at which the following gentlemen, among others, were present —Messrs. Firth, Captain Daldy, Dargaville, Rees, Ireland, Holdship—was held yesterday afternoon, to make arrangements for the conduct of to-night's public meeting, as regards the proposing and seconding of the resolutions. We learn from Captain Jackson, passenger by the Dauntless, schooner, that the Mission schooner Southern Cross was away on a cruise amongst the Melanesian Islands when the Dauntless called at Norfolk Island pn the 11th instant. The following missionaries had accompanied Captain Jacobs on the tour:—Revs. Messrs. Selwyn, Codrington, and Brooks. There is nothing fresh to report from the island beyond the fact that the whaling season had commenced with every prospect of a good season, fish being plentiful around the island. Two whales had already been taken. Captain Jackson has brought a quantity of old metal from Norfolk Island, which he has purchased from the descendants of John Adams. This consists of old copper, &c, formerly belong iu« to the ship Bounty, which was destroyed by" the mutineers nearly a century ago at Pitcairn's Island. Mr. Vogel intimated to the House yesterday (says the Wellington Times of the 14th instant) that he had received news by telegram, from London, to the effect that the contractors for the Californian mail service— or, at least, Mr. Forbes, of London —had intimated his entire inability to,, cany out the contract into which he had entered. Mr. Forbes represented, however, that it might be possible to arrange with the firms who were building the new ships for the company, and with others. It was not desirable, Mr. Vogel added, that any discussion should take place on the subject until further information was received, and the views of the Government of New South Wales were ascertained.

Among the particulars of the estates of deceased persons, placed under the charge of the Public Trustee during the month of July, 1574, we fiid the following having reference to this province : —Sarah Mattingly, estimated value of property under £300, died March 30 ; Annie McNamara, of Parnell, value of property estimated at under £10, dSed 24th June ; James Alban Norris, of the Thames, property estimated under £SOO, died April 24; Arthur Horsnail, Auckland, value of property £10, found drowned 12th July; —Harew or Harden, Auckland, property valued under Is, found drowned sth July; James Bradley, Maliurangi, property valued under £00, died sth July. A large piece of machinery, consisting of piston and piston rod, &c, has been manufactured by Messrs. Fraser and Tinne, to the order of the United Pumping Association, Thames, and will be forwarded to-day to its destination by the cutter Phantom. The piston is the largest that has ever been made in the colony, having a diameter of SI inches. The accomplishment of the work at the Phrenix Foundry proves that almost any kind of machinery can now be manufactured in Auckland without resorting to the practice of sending home orders to English firms as hitherto. The machinery, we understand, has given great satisfaction to the engineers of the Association. A valuable and powerful horse attached to a dray, the property of Messrs. Gibbons and Co., came to grief yesterday afternoon in Queen-street, through being overloaded with timber. The weight of the load on the horse's back brought the animal down off j Durham-street, the near fetlock being broken in the fall. The cart was promptly unloaded, and the horse conveyed to Messsrs. Hunter and Nolan's stable, where it was treated by a veterinary surgeon, but it is doubtful whether the poor beast will be fit for anything else than the knacker's yard, through the injury received. The horse was valued at £GO. There will be some among our readers, no doubt, who will remember the well-known C. E. Jones, a member of the Victorian Assembly, and at one time Commissioner of Railways. He was undoubtedly an able man, but somewhat unscrupulous, and, ultimately, was expelled from the Parliament of Victoria. He went to Sau Francisco, from thence to Utah, where he sojourned for a while, passing on thence to New York. It appears that he is engaged now as one of the exponents of Barnum's great show business, and is highly appreciated by the King of Charlatans. The news brought from New Caledonia by the schooner Dauntless has, in a. great measure, been anticipated by way of Sydney. An English barque was loading at Diahote River with copper from the mines for Adelaide. Mr. Bateman, formerly of Auckland, who was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude for shooting a French officer under circumstances already related, was about to be shipped to France by the transport ship L'Orne, having been ordered to undergo his term of sentence at the convict station in Toulon dockyard. Notice of a land sale by auction is gazetted to be held on Tuesday, 29th September next, of sections in the towns of Taurauga, Opotiki, Newcastle, and Cambridge East, village of Taupiri, settlements of Pukekohe and Maketu, Williamson's Clearing, Opaheke, parish of Opaheke, Kariotalii settlement, parishes of Tuakau, Mangatawhiri, Koheroa, Maramarua, Whangamarino, Whangape, Komakorau, Horotiu, Pepepe, Pukete, Te Rapa, Tuhikaramea, Mangapiko, Ngaroto, Pirongia, Hautapu, Waipa, Te Papa, Waimana and Waioeka. A fine fallow deer, shot at Motutapu, will be on view to-morrow at Mr. E. Fisher and Co. 's establishment, to whom it has been entrusted for the purpose of being dressed. This buck was brought down by a shot from Mr. C. E. Edwards' rifle, the bullet taking effect in the left thigh. Strange to say, the bullet was found to be broken in half from contact with the bone, but the latter was not penetrated or broken. In Otago about 25s is raised in the various districts for every child attending the schools; in Wellington, where a school fee of £1 per head, in addition to the household rate of £1 is proposed, about 35s is paid by the inhabitants for each scholar; while in Nelson less than 10s is contributed towards the education of each child sent to the school, the balance of the cost being thrown mainly on the general provincial revenue. Mr. Macready yesterday drew the attention of the City Improvement Commissioners to the fact that the trees planted in the new streets were being injured by badly disposed lads. The Mayor promised that he would see Mr. Broham about the matter, and secure the co-operation of the police in detecting the offenders. A description of the road alteration, Tauranga to Kati Kati, Auckland province, is gazetted ; also the definition of the roads portion of the Tauranga and Te Papa road (Judea to lot 153,) portion of the Taurnnga and Kati Kati road (lot 149, to Waiawa river), and the Opotiki table-land road. It will doubtless be a matter of considerable satisfaction to the friends of Dr. Coughtrey to learn that that gentleman has obtained the Professorship of the Otago University. Dr. Coughtrey came to this province as surgeon-superintendent of the ship Chile. The monthly inspection of Nos. 2 and 3 Companies Auckland Rifle Volunteers will take place this evening, at the Drill-shed, at half-past 7 o'clock. A meeting of No. 3 Company will be held immediately after the parade. A curious case of paralysis is reported in a Dunedin paper as having occurred to a lady while attempting to sneeze. Her face was drawn up, and it is not expected that her features will resume their natural appearance. The opening service in connection with the organ at St. Mary's Church, Parnell, will take place on Tuesday evening next. The Bishop or Auckland and various clergymen have promised to take part in the service. In the borough of Auckland (population 12,775) in the month of July, the total births were 43; total deaths, 17.

It has seemed to me (writes a corresiv, Lent) that some of the people here have on nad on pinus insignis and the melanchnl iypress. The singular tendency for the in iiscriminate planting of the more aomh :orcns of trees must have had its origin • ;he depressing effect of chronic dyspepsia 7 some unaccountable desire for taking a di mal view of things from the box-seat of liearse. Whatever may be the cause it nro£ be reasonably clear that, while the pine anl cypress interspersed with other trees are loubt well adapted for parks and pleasat.° grounds, and the maritima and pinaster t> the sandy shores of exposed beaches, there L reason to doubt whether they can be rally considered the most suitable class o j trees for street planting, not alone f rO m their sombre character, but from their den sity when full grown they obstruct the sun' 3 rays, rendering the narrow footpaths danir, and dreary in the winter season. In \± :> & and parts of Southern Europe, coining within the isotherm of this province, and where the stone-pine forms a picturesque feature ef the landscape, the tulip-tree, the ailanthu« horse-chesnut, and plane are highly valued as trees for street planting. The Oriental plane-tree, the tulip-tree of North America the horse-chesnut, ebn, the lime, the Jloretun Bay fig, melia, ailanthus, and the maiden hair-tree of Japan alternated with some ot the New Zealand varieties, such as the Cordylin.es, the beautiful nikau palm, pit tosporums, rimu, titoki, puriri, and the tanekaha, are all elegant forms, possessing the advantage of excluding very little li>ht in the winter months, and imparting a more genial aspect to the locality than the gloomy pine or sepulchral cypress. It must, however, be admitted in relation to this question that the pine tribe, besides possessing a hiuh economic value, must justly be comprising some of the noblest and most useful forms in nature; yet it may well he doubted whether the species mostly in favour here can be regarded as the best class of

trees for street planting. We (New Zealand Times) have received from Napier the copy of what, in the best interests of the colony, must be considered to be a most important document. It is an application to the Parliament from one who describes himself as a "lord, baron, and knight," and who offers to effect the early arrest of Te Kooti and all of his kind, proTided he (the applicant) be only ap pointed successor to Lieutenant-Colonel Moule and all other Commissioners of Constabulary and Police in the colony: —"To the Members of Parliament oE New Zealand. Parliament Plouse, Wellington. Gentlemen, — I hereby apply for the appointment of Commissioner of Police for this colony of New Zealand. I have been exploring the North Island during the last twelve months. I travelled up the banks of the Waikato from Mercer to Lake Tanpo, and from thence to Napier, and I visited several native to .vns. If you appoint me, I shall very soon arrest Te Kooti and all other assassins in this colony. I served as Commissioner of Police for Ireland, when I obtained the title of knighthood. I served as teacher and returning officer in this colony for some years. 1 have writings of my name and title from the Governor of this colony, the Governor of New South Wales, Education Board (Auckland), and others. I can further refer to the Queen.—l have the hor.our to be, gentlemen, A Cokonet, a Cross, and a George, etc.—God save the Queen." A private letter from a member of the Assembly to a friend hi Auckland says :— " You know I always have been a sincere Centralist, in the conviction that there is too much Government in the colony, and too much of mere local squabbling in the Assembly, but for all that we are not going to hand over our Southern provinces, at aD events before we know of what measure of self-government will be accorded instead. If some scheme of local government, simple and inexpensive, follows Vogel's resolutions, my sympathies, and the sympathies of many other Southern members, will be with their, and were it not that I am suspicious of something under them, they should have my adherence at once. V. T e do not of course care whether the North prefers governing itself, or being governed by the Assembly. That is their own affair. But if we find during the course of debate that there is anything under these resolutions detrimental to the localisation of our land revenue, or to our self-government, depend on it many ••' those whom they now put down among Government supporters will go against them." It will be remembered that a cablegram from. London recently stated that Rochefort, the escaped Communist, had been unfavorably received upon landing in Ireland. When the steamer Parthia arrived at Queenstown, on June 10, a large and unruly mob had gathered on the dock, awaiting the appearance of Henri Eochefort. As Rochefort passed down the gangway he was at once recognised by the crowd, who received him with hootings and execrations, and made a rush for him as he landed. The police surrounded Rochefort, whom, it is feared, would have been lynched but for their protection. The intensely excited mob pressed forward, hooting and yelling, following the Frenchman to the Queen's Hotel. From that place the police escorted him to the depot, where only passengers were admitted. His arrival at Cork was not expected ; he therefore passed through the city unnoticed, and took the train at nine p.m. for Dublin, whence he proceeded to London. As will be seen by our advertising columns, the blank in the amusements s.t the Prince of Wales Theatre is to be filled in on Friday night by a " farewell performance and complimentary benefit to Mr. Johnny Gourlay, of the Gourlay Family, which is announced to be given under distinguished patronage," as per advertisement. The programme is a medley one, and promises to afford considerable amusement. There are to be farces, songs (original and otherwise), dances, &c. Yesterday's Tlianm Advertiser says:—A requisition signed by a number of electors and others has been presented to his Worship the Mayor, asking him to convene a public meeting for the purpose of considering the resolutions now before the General Assembly for the abolition of the North Island provinces. The step is a wise one, and the Thames is in duty bound to speak out in clear and emphatic terms on this matter. "Grave apprehensions," says the Inangahiia Herald (Westland), " are entertained respecting the safety of a man named Francis Kirk, a late arrival from Auckland, who was proceeding overland from Nelson to Anatori, where he had some relations. Kirk formerly belonged to the Armed Constabulary, and we understand left Nelson two months ago, I but has not since been heard of, nor has he reached his destination." \ The New Zealand Table! draws attention [ to the disgraceful manner in which immii grants are being crowded into Otago. Every L available building, whether owned by Government or by private persons, is crammed to excess, and it is stated that hundreds are ' wandering about unable to find shelter. j In reporting the debate on the Licensing > Bill, the Wellington Post commences as fol- ; lows :—The comedy of the Licensing Act was . placed on the boards of the House last night to one of the largest audiences of the season, , the galleries being crammed before the perI formance commenced. ; In answer to a question in the House, put ! by Mr. Murray, Mr. Reynolds said, all the : information the Gorernment could give as to the increase of revenue from the change ot duties from the measurement to the ad valorem system, was contained in the Finan- . cial Statement already made to the House. '; The 3Tarlborou(jh Express quite agrees • with the necessity of putting an end to Wellington scheming and double-deanng, , but we are not therefore prepared to go with , him in breaking up the provincial system in I the North Island. i Is it credible that in the nineteenth century 70 men of ordinary intelligence shonld 1 patiently and seriously discuss such a scheme I as Mr. Vogel's South Sea bubble ? asks onr Wellington evening contemporary.

The latest theory about comets' tails is propounded by an Ameriean whose name escapes us. It is that comets have no tail; that the tail nothmg and that the comet is accompanied by a tail, not as a monkey is with its caudal appendage, tat like a man is by his shadow. In other words, the t<ul is but an appearance and this appearance he assumes is the friction of the comet as it travels through the attenuated gas or atmosphere that it supposed to fill space. Mr. Ellerys communlK in the Melbourne papers %£a an air of plausibility to the theory, for & tells us that our celestial visitor is hasteu£Vaway from us at the rate of two rai'uon two hundred thousand miles per da), or ninety thousand miles eaoh hour, or one thousand five hundred miles each minute. This is tall travelling, and it ,8 no wonder if it discomposes the atmosphere Greased rMitning would travel after that comet in railCaptain Shilling, of the cutter Dido, has favoured the Murlborowjh Time* with an account of a curious fish that was seen by himself and crew during one of his recent trips He describes the fish :i3 being from eighteen to twenty feet long, with an elon"ated shovel-novel shaped head and very Far<*e eves, the body black on the back and veltowish about the belly. It had something like the llippers of a seal, only larger, situated about four or five feet from the head, and two ta ;i s each about six feet long. When it camo above water it made a snorting noise, but it seemed to be very tame, ami kept coming alongside the vessel, looking up at the crew intently. It would then stand up some five feet or so out of the water. The fish remained close to the cutter about a quarter of an hour, and then glided away towards Ook's Straits. The inquest upon the infant child of Susan Malioney, which was adjourned from the sth iusi.. was concluded yesterday afternoon. The jury found that death had resulted accidentally. Tl._ j>o*l i»ort<-m fx-.inination shewed that a tnile might have resulted fatally to the child, ss it had not breathed properly at its birth. Ihe doctor was of opinion tliat it had been spjhtly overlain. At the Police Court, yesterday, two persons were punished for drunkenness : one for drunkenness, assaulting tVe polic. , , and malicious injury to property : and one for a breach of the Prisons Act, by attempting to deliver tobacco to prisoners undergoing sentence in the Mount Eden gaol. A report ot the cases appears in another column. Te V'mu'ifja is the name of a new publication in the Maori language, copies of wl-ich we have seen. During a late \isit to Aue-n----1.-ind, Henare Tomoana became the purekaser of a press and types, and took them doi\ n to Hawke's Bay with a native printer. The treasurer of the Home for Neglected and Destitute Children begs to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of two guineas as a donation to the institution from the Auckland Wesleyan Mutiiiil Improvement Association. In compliance with a numerously-signed requisition, his Worship the Mayor has convened a public meeting of citizens for tonight, at the Caoral Hall, to consider the proposals of the General Government respectin™ the 2\"orth Island. We understand that the enterprising firm of Messrs. S. and J. R. Vaile have purchased those centrally situated premises in Queenscreet erected by Messrs. Xeuuian and Ewen, at present occupied by Mr. K. W. Dyson. The Art Union drawing, at Mr. Wayte's, takes place on Monday afternoon next. There is room for a few more subscribers. Some of the pietures offered are very valuable, wliilst every subscriber will receive a prize. On a recent morning Dnnedin harbour, in the vicinity of the shore at Anderson's Bay, VauxhaH, was covered with many acres of shett ice. Felling the first tree; instead of turning the first sod, was the appropriate ceremony at the commencement of the Westpurt and Mount Rochfort coal railway yesterday. Samuel Hay.varJl Ford, Esq., of Russell, has been appointed to be a certifying otlicer under the PuV-'c Health, 1572. The short supply of cattle in Westland has led to the exportation of carcases from Wellington to Hokitika. The grand fashionable concert to be given by the Opera Company and the Auckland Choral Society, at the Choral Hall, is postponed until Monday evening next. The assessment roll for the Otahulm Highway District is deposited at the Otahuhu Post-office for the inspection of ratepayers. Tenders are required by the district engineer, Mr. James Stewart, for the erection of two locomoti% T es. The Pakuranga hounds will meet to finish j the season at Mooney's Bridge, Howick, on ! Saturday, the 29th, at 11 o'clock. I A teacher is wanted for a native school on the Wanganui river.