Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4462, 2 March 1876, Page 2

We notice that in January last the Union Bank of Australia paid a dividend of 10 per cent., which now makes the total sum received by shareholders in this manner, duriug 37 years, to no Ins au ainouut than £5,200,00. The Auckland brrrch brgau business in IS4S, and at the prcscut tiiuo there are 21 offices established in the colony, where, according to the latest C-ovcri lent returns, the extent oE its business transactions is second or'y to thai of the IBank of ISTew- Zeal nod. Its reserves an.l profits arc over £500,000, and it contributes £550,00 to the capital of the colony. We observe that the last quotation of the bank shares in London was £57 ; and. iu the oolomc3 £53 to ;tVv5 was the ruling price, according to latest advicec: A large propoition of the shares are held in-->T ew Zealand. Wc have receded from our special correspondent at rian Franks j six volumes of a Chinese book, entitled tie " Ying u tsap tstti" or " English Instrucror," wiiihteu by a Chinese author, for the propose of facilitating transactions with foreigners. The date of publication is April 1562. The matter is printed on Chinese straw-paper, is exceedingly light, aud a volume occupies a very small space. The Chinese written words are placed in one column with the orthcopical English equivalent written underneath L ifch occupying one column. In the oppc ite column are the English words with the orthcepical equivalent sounds in Chinese character written over them. The book con- ; tains a good deal oE information in tliis form i relating to times, seasons, weights, mea- . sures, tariffs, &c. It has been sent to us as tje medium for forwarding it to the Anck- . land Institute, which has been done in | furtherance of the wishes of our corrcs- ; pondent. , I Anent the discovery of some of the crew aud passengers of the ill-fated ship Strathmore, on the uninhabited island called The Crozet, which lie in the line of the great circle sailing between Great Britain, and jNew Zealand, something further has conio to light. The ship White Eagle, on her passage hither about six months ago, lost the trade, cither from unexpected deviation of the compasses, faulty observations, or weather which would not admit of observations being take'i* However this may be, one stormy morning at daybreak the ship was fon nd entangled among breakers, with the wild peaks of the Crozet hanging almost overhead. By a special mercy of the Almighty she had plunged in the darkness, through almost the only channel between the mass of rocks, aud emerged scathclcss into the open sea beyond. But, whilo passing the intricate & trait, some of the sharp-eyed passengers said they saw sig- ! nals flying on one of the islets. The officers of the vessel were too much occupied duriug their critical position tox>ay proper attention to the assertion, and in a short time the quasi signals were shut out from view. The White Eagle passengers now say they are certain of what they averred before, aud arc sure the signals must have been made by the ; survivors' from the wreck of the Strathmore.

We observe that the National "Bank of New Zealand (Limited) have declared ail interim dividend at the rate of G per cent, per annum, for the half-year, on 30ih September last. This dividend was advised to tlie colony by telegram some time ago, but the message was sent through Russia, and suffered so in transmission that when delivered it was practically uniute'ligible, and could not therefore be acted upon, It will be seen by an advertisement elsewhere that the transfer books have been closed until oth March, on which dite tho dividend will be payable. The business gone through at the Police Court yc'slerday morning was confined to the punishment of three persons for drunkenness, and one for a breach of the Merchant Shipping Act. In the case of a man named Halliday (who did not think it necessary tD keep the promise he made when he was remanded a week ago), for failing to contribute to the support of his child, who is being maintained, in one of the charitable institutions of the city, a distress warrant was ordered to be issued. A case of assault, arising out of a quarrel between two of the fair sex, and in which the parties interested did not figure to advantage, was dismissed, after a sufficient amount of evidence had been heard to shew that both, prosecutrix and defendant had been to blame. Several of the newly arrived immigrants by the SaVsbury have obtained employment. Nearly all the single girls have been engaged. About fifty of the single men and married people have left, or are on the point of leaving for the YVaikato, where employment is offered for them.- The harvest being now a?I secured, the demand for agricultural labourers is not so brisk at the present moment, but plenty of farm work will be found for " all bauds" in the course of two or three weeks. The March number of the N.ew Zealand Pre&byUrixn Church News is now published, and contains much that will interest and instruct ils subscribers. The leading article is upon the annual temperance sermon which has been recommended by the last General Assembly of the Church. It also contains an able sermon by the Rev. G. Morice, articles on current topics, a brief memoir of the late Rev. Dr. Wilson, F.R.S., and of the late Mr. John Christie, and Church and general news. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Domain Board was held yesterday. A letter was received from the Public Works Department, in which the Minister declined to entertain the proposal for a carriage-way into the Domain from Parnell Grammar School. There appeared some misunderstanding, and the Secretary was directed to write to the Government asking them to re-conSider their decision. The proceedings will be found detailed in another column.

Herve'a " Chimeric" was presented last evening, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, for the fifth time. The light and pleasant music and great variety of detail and colour sustains its popularity. It will be repeated for the last time this evening. Tc-morrow, "La Chatte Blanche" will be produced. This exquisite burlesque has been in active preparation all the week, and would have been put on the stage at an earlier date, but that the management have resolved to produce it in a manner as perfect as possible. This evening the company perform "The Waterman" as well as opera bouffe. * ' .T We underatand that the bricklayers employed r under M!r. Rhodes in the erection of the block oiM buildings at the corner of •Victoria and - Queen-streets, and who;.h'ave been oil strikejluring the past few days, resumed rwork yesterday afternoon, "~at an increase of 2s per diem. They had been previously receiving Sa per diem. ' lunatic was brought up yesterday from Tturanga by the Rowena, ar.d lodged in the lock-up. The poor fellow 13 very violent.

A warm discussion is going on in ton, as in Auckland, in reference to Auditors, whose electiou is The auditors are at feud with Clerk. At a late meeting of the a letter from the Auditors beine guesting paymont of the usual fee am) 1 ing the Council to indicate what'th rate of payment would be, tlio that a resolution of the past year \wL B4,l fee of the Auditors at tweuty-livo tm' "" each, and he presumed that the would order that fee to be now paii "b® 1 as a moro frequent audit „ould be cxpected, it was desirable i? 4 the Council should indicate A' v'tw regarding the future rate n f ** ment, Ho hardly thought thev s- 3 cause to increase the present ft» S making inquiry, he found that dnrii„ ,i p.-.st year the Auditors had devoted >i i sittings to an examination of the CoiTr books and documents, none of these tin" extending over more than three hours some of them much less, Occunvinr. about thirty hours. In these it appeared tn him that twenty-five oofo 5 * was a liberal fee, and the Council sonably expected the Auditors about to£ elected to give tliem a little more work f the same money. The -A; ay or, havinp r fcrred to some further details, then said til lie might take the opportunity, while on a subjret of audit, of stating, not in the in of blame or fault-finding, because he had„ 5 doubt it was a pure mistake, that the prr t .? ( Auditors, who were obtaining great from a small section ot the ratepayers fo their disallowance of a portioa of th* Council accounts, wore the persons ri! actually, created the first v K hic,i difficulty in tlio matter—the difficulty fm ffl ' \ wli'cli all the others arose. He Jearne' l tW II they did not come to look at tho annnpl 8 statement of accounts until after the ]«»! U time for its being audited and advertiseditj passed ; and then, having taken up tile i nient, they p-oceeded, instead of anditingK ' to give instructions to the Town Clerk to ! prepare it for tliem in a different form from \ tl>e original. Now, this was quito bsyond 5 their province. The Town Clerk is rcsiw- t sible for the annual statement, be ii ngU or f wrong. The Auditors may allow o' disjilow i' it, as they think fit: they are peucctlyin. f A depeudent in that respect; but tbey haTcro ti. rig-.bt to dictate to the Town Clerk as to tilt it mode in vr.hich it sH'l be drawn. He wj I snro that the had do-e whatthej I' believed to bo rigtUt. but they had tff2 E under a mistake all the Sit-me. Herefen-J | to it simply because there was I on the subject, and he did so as P"rt v-.tflyj | explanation which it would be \cij easy to | give of the wholo matter i£ oppoilaoi.j ' I offered. 1 In accordance with the request of tie Provincial Government, Dr. I'hilson, th» Health Officer paid a visit of inspecfei to the native settlement at Orakei, it Irving been reported that fever was raging amtujst the Maoris. Although not so serious as ira at first supposed, "Dr. Philson found several of the natives suffering from low fever. He ordered the removal of the most seriiwa cases to the hospital nnd prescribed for tlii remainder. Dr. Philson found the -rater in the neighbourhood very bad, to which lit j partly attributes the cause of the outbrcufc. j He has recommended, in his report to the Government, jtliat some of the whares where tan j fever raged mnst be destroyed. We are I liappy to learn that, on visiting the Tra'ning I School, tho lads were there found in gooi health. j

The Herald says, there were lauded there six slice]) of a breed which mil be new to most breeders in New ZHaw\ At a first glance they would be taken for Lincolns, but a closcr examination shows that their wool is a <?cal finer and sorter than that of either Lincoln or Leicester. A flight i dash of the Merino given to the former would produce wool not uvdilcn y» ofc l,n ""?' , v fir -ft sheep. They are all called long-wooled Dcvor, and have of late ntnde a rapid rise in the favor of English breeders. It is claimed for tbeni that they have wool much softer and finer than the Lincoln, while at the B**w time there is no difference in the weight of the fleece. They are hardier than oil.* longwools, and thrive 011 indifferent feed. Their we should say, is not qr'teai heavy as that of the Lincoln. Th _ are superior looking sheep, and should thrive oa some of the higher land where Lincolns haTe been found too heavy. The We M tngton correspondent of the Thames Star has entered into corres* wul. ence with His Exce"cucy. to ascertr* i whether ho would \ Isii; the Thame?. B ; J Excellency replied, through his Priva!* Secretary:—".hi reply to your letter, cHM 21st instant, asking whether it is the intention of IXis Excellency the Governor ') vi p it the 'i.iiames goldfields during his stay here, I have to inform you Bis Excellency quite hopes to do so at no very distant date." At a Late hour last night the unfortunate man who was stabbed in such a cowaioly manner at Onehunga on Wednesday wrs still lying at th»j Hospital in a vei/precarious condition, no change either for better or worse having takeu place. His depo* sitions were taken on Wednesday afternoon, by Robert; Graham, Ear\., J. P., SuV Inspecfcor Pardy, and Mr. Joseph Cunning ham (Clerk of the Police Court). We have received the March number of the Church Gazette. It contains an article upon set and extemporaneous prayer; a chapter, the concluding one, of the "Recollections of a Waikato Missionary," Sundayschool lessous, notices of recent publications, and extracts from Home journals. The steamer Albion is expected to IcaYft Hokitika at noon on Thursday, the 2od inst, Telegrams for the Australian colonies OT Europe, via Java cable, will be received at the Telegraph Office, for transmission to Hokitika, up till 11 o'clock a.m. of the 2nJ instant. The members of the Shipwrights' Protection Society will pass their anniversary with their wives and children, on Saturday next, in the Domain. They will form themselves iuto a procession, and march thither, headed by Messrs. Billon and J. P. Lonegan and their excellent band. The Hon. S. D. Hastings, P.R.W.G.T.> of the Independent Order of. Good Tern-*-plars, Will, we understand, leave Auckland for California on Monday week, in the s,s. Granada.

By the arrival of the schooner Lasfcitifl from Fiji, we learn that a mo»Rtcr meeting was held in Levuka on the 19th February to petition Hl3 Excellency the Goveiaor to make Levuka the seat of Government, A meeting of the Improvement ComnrS' sioners was to have been held yesterday, hub at the hour announced for the commence*; ment of business there was no quorum. Mr. Alexander Saundeis announces that messages are transmitted daily to Londonbj the Oriental Telegram Agency. Tenders are required for the erection of 3 school-house at Lucas' Creek. Tenders will he received at the Haymarket, up to noon on the 7th instant, for the erec* tion of a stone wall. A Bankruptcy notice re John Williaß Leahy appears elsewhere. The programme of the Henderson's Mil races, to take place on St. Patrick's Day> appears in our advertising columns. A share register of the Union Bank ot Australia is now opened at the Christchurca* branch* Tenders are required by Mr. Wriglcy foe the erection of three shops in Queen-street. Notice is given by the Town Clerk that plumbers can now receive licences for work in connection with the Waterworks. Members of the Otahuhu Mutual Improvement Association are in formed that the third session, commences on Monday next. Mr, • George Fraser returns thanks to the City Electors for returning him as one of the City Auditors. The Mayor announces by advertisement in another column that Messrs. John Waymouth and George Fraser have been electcd auditors for the City of Auckland. An advertisement with reference to the price of Waikato coal appears in another column.