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New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4484, 28 March 1876, Page 2

- Some_ very fine buildings are in course of erection next to the Bank of New Zealand. A few months ago the site was covered by several ricketty wooden structures. These have been removed, and good stone founda-' tions having been laid down, the work of building is being pushed on by the contractors, Messrs. James and Khodes. There are -to be two buildings in the block, and both are of respectable dimensions. One is being built for the Mercantile Loan Company, and the other for Messrs. Banks and Co. The Mercantile Loan Company's main building will be 50 feet by 40 feet, and three stories high. The stories are, respectively, 16 feet, 12 feet 6 inches, and 11 feet in height. In. addition to the main building, there is to be a store 112 feet by 33 feet, and two stories 14 feet and 12 feet high. Messrs. Banks and Co.'s main building will be 50 feet by 27 feet, and three stories high, the same as the Loau Company's building. To this there will be a store-room 5S by 25 feet. The front view of the building will present a really handsome appearance, and be an additional ornament to the main thoroughfare of the city. At the present rate it will not be long before the few remaining wooden houses in Qneen-street will be replaced by substantial brick buildings. The oyster season will commence on Saturday next, on which, day no doubt the market will, be well supplied with this bivalve after a prohibition of four months. The oyster should- without doubt be protected during the spawning season, but we doubt the wisdom o£ the Legislature in passing the ■ late enactment regarding the oyster fisheries. With the.. enormous quan T tity of, rock oysters on our northern coast, , there is no necessity,'with thepresent scanty demand, to prohibit oyster.fishing during four months in the year. A.modification in the ■present law might be suggested, and that is to have two* months, namely, January and February, closed, and to divide the North Island where the oysters abound, into four districts, and keep only three of these districts open at a time. This will have the effect of enabling the youngjjoyster to arrive at maturity, which takes three years, while there will only be a slight interference with the oyster trade. A London paper has the following on the subject- of oysters in that part of the world:— ; " Oysters ■are gradually. reaching a price at which they will be quite out of the reach of all but the wealthy ; but there seems to be some hope that a remedy will be found for such a disaster. Mr. E. Atkins writes :— ' Twenty-five years ago, whilst in command of a sailing ship in the home trade, I used to carry an oyster dredge, and whenever it fell calm, the dredge was thrown overboard. By that means I have found oysters in different parts of the North Sea and English Channel. I have since then dredged in the Bay of Bengal, the Java and China Seas, and other parts,of the world. I have discovered a place in a British colony where oysters may be farmed in sufficiont quantities to supply all. Europe .at a very cheap rate. On the llth January last I applied, to the Earl of Carnarvon for a concession to farm oysters in a British colony, and on the 15th I received a reply stating that I ought to apply to the Government of the colony in whose jurisdiction the waters were, in which I intended to carry on operations.- I did apply to the Governor, bat never received an answer. During the Fenian disturbance in 1867 I offered my services to the British Government, if they would find a vessel, to dredge and trawl the Irish seas by steam power, for the purpose of teaching the Irish how to take and carry their fish to market. My offer was not accepted. My opinion is, that if science were brought to bear on the taking and carrying of saltwater fish, the fish might be sold at one quarter the present price to the consumer, and yet pay 100 per cent, on the capital invested.'" There now remain but four days during which persons entitled to be placed upon the roll may claim the electoral franchise. TJnless applications to be placed on the list of voters are made to the Returning Officers of the several districts during the present month, the claims cannot be received, and consequently the franchise will be forfeited for a year. The seventh clause of the Registration of Electors Act, 1866, is as follows : "No such claim and declaration shall be received unless it be given .to the Registratration Officers of the electoral district in respect of which the said claim shall be made in the months o£ January, February, and March of the year in which it shall be preferred. " The usual weekly meeting of the St. James's Mutual Improvement Association was held last evening, in the vestry of the Wellington-street Presbyterian Church, and was well attended. After some discussion in relation to various matters had taken place, two essays—"one on "Perseverance,", and the other on " Human Follies," —were read, and criticised by the members. The subjects were treated in excellent style, and the literary merit of the composition of both papers was creditable to the youthful authors. On Monday evening next a treat is anticipated, in the shape of an essay on the "Anglo-Saxon Race," and one on "Dr. Cooke," the well-known Presbyterian divine, by two prominent members of the association. The Eev. J. Crump preached his farewell sermon on Sunday evening to a large audience, and a valedictory soiree will be given on Wednesday at Shortland, to enable the Wesleyans and others to testify to the rev. gentleman their appreciation of his services as a pastor and citizen for the past three years. Mr. Crump departs for St. Albans, Christchureh, and his place in the Wesleyau Church at the Thames will be filled by the Rev. R. S. Bunn, formerly of Coromandel. [Thames Correspondent.] The bi-monthly sitting of the District Court was held yesterday. There was only a short list of cases. In the case DeLias v. Holmes, the arbitrator awarded to the plaintiff £11 15s as damages, with costs of award, £7 7s. In the case of Isaacs v. Underbill, heard last Court-day, his Honor the District Judge gave judgment for the plaintiff. The details will be found in our report of proceedings. Another accident has happened at the Parawai butts. The Cadets of the Thames Scottish Company were practising on Saturday, when a bullet splintered off the target and wounded one of the Native Contingent severely in the wrist, the metal going through from back to front. The wounded man was brought to town and attended to. It is evident that blame is to be attached somewhere. Four young men—if the term men can be applied to them—have been apprehended by Detective Grace for having violently assaulted a Mr. William Price, and indeeently assanlted his wife. This gross outrage was committed on Sunday in. Newton. A man named Henry Walff, who contemplated a visit'to Fiji by the steamer Llewellyn, was yesterday afternoon apprehended by the police on board the vessel upon a charge of obtaining money under false pretences. The firebells were runs; last evening, about half-past 6 o'clock, causing a good deal of commotion in town. The cause, however, was only a chimney on fire in Lome-street, and it was got out with little trouble. The watch house at the police station last evening contained two women and one man charged with drunkenness, and .a man for obtaining money under false pretences. The population of Victoria at the end of last year was 823,449, being an increas* during the last quarter of 3996.

We are glad to find that at our Southern (retain something I like l temper common] sense; when wntin j g?_abo'ut''tlCeNlandTTfunrdJ Ofcago papers' contain column mere abase, j Jn have no mbre~ excuse fdr;thinking ong!}t\to! share in the proceeds 'o£ v robber haffor appropriating ,- to-himself—th§" proceeds of his crime. We are glad, how^ - ever, to perceive that the Lyltdton Times is more"considefate~an^fair.^lt_;says^:—Thecontusion, between the two parties on the .subject;of : the land fund is not sir great. The division between them, hojveve'r, is liot quite clear. Many who declaim strongly in favour of the immediate annihilationof the contract—we prefer that word as more accurate than- "-compact " —of 1556, really in their hearts wish only for a reasonable com promise in the shape of compensation' for the loss which the Northern Provinces incurred in the fulfilment of that eontracfc : owing .to the Native wars, and to the waiver of the Crown's right of pre-emption over Native lauds in 1562. Wears of opinion that the question, in that aspect, is worthy of serious consideration.! 'It is obvious that" those provinces that were for many years subject to civil war, and since 1562 to the competition in the purchase of waste lands' by private persons, could not properly realise the benefit of a land fund. Those provinces were forced to defray the cost of colonisation out of ordinary revenue, and have for practical purposes, in the meantime, lost their land revenue. The Southern provinces, free from disturbance and endowed, with almost the whole of their territory, have had none of these difficulties to contend against. It is, therefore, a matter of consideration whether these;claims are just, and, if so, to what extent it is practicable to recognise them! The reversal of the "compact would be suicidal. No principle" of' colonisation can be more sound than the local application of the land fund to local public works. But we see no insuperable obstacle to meeting in other ways just claims of the provinces in the North Island; and;if good government throughput the colony and. financial reform .' are to be secured, we believe that an adjnstment on some such basis as that of compensation should be agreed to forthwith between the two great' parties, on this question. IX the division .on this snbject is to be encouraged 1 by ministers as the best safe-guard of i "their existeuce~and is to continue,~then we may., bid, farewell, to . good .'administration. The' sooner the/ground is' cleared for the third set of parties, Ministerialists and Oppositionists," the' better 1 it will be for' the country. If the land fund question be left to perplex and confuse those parties, neither of them can x'roperly fulfil its functions. A deputation, consisting of Messrs. Jones, Eeid, Sfcokts, O. Carley, and J. Shaw, waited upon the Chief Postmaster, Mr. S. B. Biss, yesterday afternoon, with reference,. to a postal delivery for the suburban district of Eden Terrace. The deputation brought under the notice of Mr. "Bias the resolution passed at a recent public meeting, which affirmed the desirability of a postal delivery for the district. Mr. Biss having heard the. deputation, promised to place their views before the Postmaster-General. He recommended them to draft a memorial to the head of the Postal Department, containing the arguments in favour of their object, and to have the petition signed and forwarded to the PostmasterGeneral. The deputation promised to act upon the suggestion. An Australian paper states that the mem-. bers of the Native Dogs' Destruction Association have held a meeting' at Between the members who attended or were represented at the meeting, no less than 290,000 sheep and 49,600 cattle are held, and their efforts to keep down the number of these pests to the pastoralist have, been attended with great success. • The jfarabbri Herald says . that no less.. than 247 scalps were produced, of dogs destroyed through the action of the members of the association, since their last meeting on October 30, 1875, and the sum of £347, being at the rate of 20s per head, was paid over to their de- • stroyers. • ' A correspondent at Waiuku sends two cards, found, in a bottle which was picked up on the beach about 10 miles south of the Manukau bar. On one is the following : "Mr. Fr. Aug. Krull,—Mr. Walter Turnbull, Wellington, N.Z." On the other, "Mr. F. A. Krull, Wellington, N.Z.," and on the back, in pencil, "s'.s. Otago, from Hokitika to Melbourne, 11th February, 1575, 4S hours out; weather fine; all well." It impossible to say exactly how long the bottle has lain on the beach, but, probably, it .has not lain long, as that beach is prettv frequently travelled. The bottle, in all likelihood, had floated for about a year. The find may be of some importance as shewing the set of the currents. . •A discussion is at present going on at the Thames as to the time for children having had'the scarlet fever, or children in whose families the fever has been raging, to be excluded from the public schools. The Waiotahi School Committee had prevented some children from attending -the school. A meeting of the local Board of Health was held on the subject on Saturday afternoon, at which opinions on the subjeet were read from all the medical men oh the Thames. Those opinions differed very greatly. ThR following motion was carried:—"That the' letters of Mr. Gudgeon and the medical gentlemen oe referred to the Central Board of Health, and if necessary, to have a regulation framed and brought iuto force bearing on the question." The mission schooner Southern Cross, in command of Capt. Bougard, will leave (weather permitting) on her annual voyage on Saturday, the first April. The Revs. Palmer, Hill, and Wadrokal (lately ordained by Bishop Cowie), Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. Watling, and J". Wate will go down by her to Norfolk Island."' She takes a bull and mare for the mission, and the usual articles of clothing, &c. It is expected that she will be absent some six months, and that the Ptev. E.. H. Codrington and a party of boys for confirmation will come down in her in October. : ■

An accident occurred on Sunday on the Kaipara railway. It is not the custom to run trains on Sunday, but on this occasion au engine and several carriages were started from Helensville for Riverhead. When the train came to a place called Waimauku, the engine ran off the rails, doing considerable damage to the line. Fortunately none of the persons on the engine or in the carriages were injured. lien were working all night at the line, and it was expected that the engine would get down to Riverhead last night. The ordinary bi-monthly sitting of the District Court was held yesterday. There were only four causes set down for hearing, and only one of those defended. Judgment was given for the amount awarded by the ai-bitrator, £11 15s, to the plaintiff. The costs of the award, £7 7s, are to ! be paid by the defendants. Judgment was given in the case of Craig v. To Oka for plaintiff for £96 2s 4d. Judgment was given for the plaintiff in the case of E. and H. Isaacs v. Underbill. One or two cases were adjourned. "We are informed that a grass has made its appearance in Waimate very mysteriously. Unlike the Rovy weed, it is very good food for cattle and sheep, and the settlers are greatly elated with its growth. It is supposed to be a species of poa. The cattle improve wonderfully on it, while it is spreading over a large area of country. Settlers cannot account for its appearance, and ascribe its origination to some seed having dropped out of a parcel. The p.s. Enterprise did not leave for the Thames last night, as she had been advertised to do. The s.s. Durham will take her place to-day, leaving at eleven o'clock, going first to Coromandel and then to the Thames. The annual inspections of the Hobson, Scottish, and Victoria Companies will be held this evening in the Drill-shed, under the supervision of Major Gordon, Inspecting Officer. ; - • ■ . . Captain Eyre, who has been Governor of the gaol for the last eight yeara, ia exceedingly ill of consumption.

On Sunday afternoon the.residents online Kyber Pass Road receivedl'vast "afitSenieirtr from the erratic movements! of grown emus, J boy having ini> daced them to travel from some the , neighbourhood 'tSf Hie tDbmain, were.tryin" to coax them to cross the Kyber Pass Road' >and stalk :Mbjunt EdentKbad West. "But the birds diclri'b. geemvto 'cutting looked too much ljke a trap. So 1 they dodged the a most harrassing I style. -Driving.pigs.to market was nothing to it, for the long-legged'apteri hadtEe heels J of the meii altogether; and kept them rush'iiigabblit 'Seccbmbe's corner so long that they had. good reason, to...wish it had been any day but Sunday, so .jthafc they might have appealed' to his for a good draught of. his liquor.' But the I most amusing part of the affair occurred on one of the occasions when the birds rushed I back from the gorge.: - Just at the time a kangaroo dog was trotting leisurely up the main road. Now, it might have been supposed that a , dog . of- that ■ breed would have known full well what the . ungainly creatures were.. But to all appearance lie was young and ignoraut, and had never, experienced the pleasures of the chase. No sooner did they appear at the corner, bearing down on liirn with all sail set, than he let out a dismal howl, clapped his; tail,taut between "Ins" legs, put his helm hard down, and rushed frantically up the road. He was last seen as he appeared disappearing round the corner of Symonds-street.

By some means, a rumour* obtained credence, during last week, to the effect that the interiors of the new reservoirs were not to be cased with any waterproof material, in which case, as a matter of course, the holes "would_".very soon have become mere slime pits, and the pipe's' choked up with clay. "We are gladto.take the earliest opportunity of contradicting this impression? So far from this being the case, the engineers, in making out theif~plans and specifications, have taken more than ordinary care to prevent any suet silting up. :Wβ have been favoured -with a sight of the' specifications; &c, and find that one of the clauses in the contract-is that-the contractors must , eoat : .the;bdttbm and sides with'concrete to the thickness of twelve inches, and on the top of this place ,a, layer ,of the best Portland cement ( of half-an-ineh in.thickness. This will form an impenetrable, wall. „.., In accordance, with the resolution passed at the last sittings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, which requested the ministers of the persaasion to preach once a-year a sermon on intemperance, the Rev. R. F. Macnicol delivered a discourse upon that subject on Sunday evening, in St. James' Presbyterian Church, Wellington-street. TJhp' reverend gentleman took as his text Romans, chap, xiv.,' v. 21—"It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, .or is made weak." The speaker,- before going into his subject, said that he did not intend to narrato or describe the ravages and the ruin which, intemperance had inflicted upon the human race, but would content himself by pointing put how the evils brought upon society by this enemy to ■ the Gospel might be avoided and' altogether, done away • with. The remedy was total abstinence. Many gentlemen of high position had again and again striven to convince the world that moderation in the use of intoxicating beverages would speedily reduce the evil to a minimum, but their reasoning on this point, to his r "mind, was founded on a fallacy.. The appetite for drink gradually increased on moderate drinkers until, they carried their libations to such excess that they could not restrain themselves on. the path of degradation and shame, upon which, by. gradual and slow stages, they had entered. He did rot agree with those who" went so far as to say that intoxicating beverages were the production of the Evil Ore. They were intended to subserve a useful purpose as medicines, but they could not with impunity be' abused. He counselled !all Christians who had the well-being of their fellow men at heart, to become total abstainers, as their influence for good, would have great effect in reclaiming their weaker brethren. The address was eloquent aud impressive, and ihe view of the question taken by the speaker impartial and free from all extravagance of expression.

The Thames A dvertiser compassionates our contemporary, the Gross, on his elaborate leader of Saturday. It says :—"The appointment of ihe.Hon. W. Swainsonas.a member of. the.Executive Council of the has thrown our Ministerial contemporary, the Southern Cross, into a state of groat bewilderment avid perplexity, aud more than a column of large type is devoted to expressions of astonishment at the action ,of the Miuistry in restoring to political life again one who has been politically dead for some twenty years, and who is now regardrd as a fossil of a bygone age. Weshould certainly join with our Auckland contemporary in regarding the elevation of Mr. Swaiusonto the dignity of a Minister of the Colony as a grave blunder, could we persuade ourselves that his appointment is enything more than a mere formal.act to meet some contingency which has not been fully explained. But it is really too bad on the part of Ministers to keep their ' official' organs so badly informed as to their motives and intentions, and it is painful to.see the Cross floundering along in a state of the xitmost perplexity about this 'new departure', by Sir Julius Vogel." :We should not have quoted the above but to cor-rect-an errer as to a matter of fact which the Cross on Saturday piled on a pyramid lof mistakes, and which has apparently been fallen into, also, by our more accurate contemporary at the Thames. Mr. Swainson has-not been "politicallydead for twenty years." Up till within a few y'eara ago he was an active member of the Legislative Council; and in reference to I our relations -with the natives, made several speeches, which are known to all acquainted with the history of the colony. The Otago Daily Times says :—" The New Zealand Insurance Company has already earned for itself a high reputation throughout the colony for prompt and liberal settlement of claims, and its directors seem determined that it shall rank equally high in this respect among the home insurance offices. Advices received by last mail report that Messrs. Boss and Glendining's London office received as early as November the 11th, from Messrs. Rowley and Bristow, the company's London agents, a cheque for £10,710, being amount of their policy on goods per Strathmore. "Within the last two years the same firm has received from the New Zealand Insurance Company about £20,000 in all, in payment of marine losses, including a large amount for total loss per Surat, which was settled in the same prompt and liberal manner, the company in both instances waiving its right to the full time allowed for settlement—representing a considerable sum for interests upon such large amounts. It .is gratifying to learn from the report of this company, just published, that, notwithstanding the exceptionally heavy losses it has recently sustained, the directors hare been able to declare a handsome dividend to the shareholders." Captain Hutton has visited the reported fabulously rich district of Otepopo, -where it was said gold, silver, diamonds, &c, &c, existed in any qaantity suitable to requirements. The report of Captain Hntton is as follows : —"I have visited the locality. No coal is known to exist on the property. I was only shown a band of dark-coloured clay with a few streaks of coal in it. I recommended Mr. Fenwick not to spend any money on.it. The silver ore is 'arsenical iron pyrites.' It appears that Professor Black had previously reported the same to Mr. Fenwick. The 'antimony ore' was also iron pyrites... "When it occurred.in large quantities itsivas. called antimony, when in small : quantities it -was called silver.—3?. W. Hutton, Provincial Geologist. March, 1876."

At Timaru, Judge Ward gave a Miss Bowman L 125, as damages for injuries sustained by her through falling into, a sewer in course of construction by the Borough Council. The accident arose through the sewer being unprotected by a fence at night.

v The Sydney Morning Herald, in an article *qn Mr. Hall and his connection with the .San Francisco service, says :—For the present, therefore, if not finally, Mr. Hall dis.appears from the scene of his labours But ;if Australia is now to take its farewell of him it is but the bearest justice to take note of the service he has rendered. It has been said that ho is not the best general whn never loses a battle, but ho who redeems disaster by splendid victories. Mr. Hull's faults and failures have been visible to ever!' one.-_-His faults are his own; how much - of his failures are .duo to. himself, and how much to circumstances iover. which ho had no control, is known only to those who have been behind the scenes. For the east, and in the popular judgment, he nrast bear whole reproach. Hut putting all faults and failures into one scale, we mutt as a simple act ofijustico put. into the other what he has done. He was the pioneer o£ the service, and was the first man who over i ran a steamer from Sydney to San. Francisco <j1 1 aud back. The scheine.broke down because he had no adequate capital to back him but that he had got hold of a good idea is evideut from the fact that after all our ex perience, the very same route he then adopted, or at-least one .very near it viz. the adoption'of tlie Bay of Islands as the New Zealand port of call, stands out as the best scheme we can adopt so long as tho New Zealand alliance is important.- Jlr Webb, who succeeded Mr. Hall did not achieve any greater success. The next attempt was what is known as the temporary service, which, in our judgment, was al ways a mistake, and but for which the ! permanent service under Forbes and Dβ Bu'ssche would probably have beeu a Teat success. But the Government of the" dav was urgent for iCand'Mr. Hall, as usual was sanguine. Anyhow, if he had not gone to England to organise it, we shonld'not have had at our disposal the Mongol, the Tartar, the Cyphrones, the Mac<re"or and the Mikado, and without them we could not possiblyhave kept the service going.' That service would not have been a failure but for the losses consequent on the late arrival in Sydney of some of the boats and the wreck of the Macgregor. If, after,..that Mr. Hall had not again gone to America and England, we should never have seen the present contract. That contract is the result of a combination, and that combination did not come together by chance. It was the result of protracted and laborious negotiations, aud the heart and soul of those negotiations was Mr. Hall.

The New' Zealand Times contains a strongly-worded letter in reference to the procedure of the Superintendent of Auckland .with regard to the unemployed at the Thames, and the resistance to the stoppage of the capitation money, The letter concludes as follows :—" Permit me to observe upon another case in which he has shewn himself purblind to the merits of a question. It appears that Auckland is indebted to the colony on account of expenditure on public works. The amount, in default of a laud fund, has been charged against the capitation allowance. The debt is incontestable, and one would imagine that the particular source of revenue from which it shouldbe paid was a matter of minor moment.. But the object seems to be not to pay at all; consequently, the Superintendent takes a technical objection to its being charged against'' capitation" ' —-the only available source for recouping the colony. That is to say, au attempt is made to charge an Aucklaud debt to the other provinces. For the aggregate of the provinces make up the colony and provide the coloni.-) revenue. 'There is no such thing as a colony to be ". milked" distinct from the provinces; though a vague impression to. that effect would seem to prevail. What is remitted to one province, not exacted or evaded, has to be made good by the rest. Yet the Auckland Superintendent seems to have gained much credit in his own province for avoiding payment. So much for a system by which public morality is being sapped." To this letter the editor appends the following note: " Our correspondent does not appear to have an accurate knowledge of all the facts relating to the Thames unemployed. As a matter of fact, the Colonial Secretary telegraphed Messrs. McKirdy and Oakes's letter offering a year's engagement to 400 men, to the Superintendent of Auckland, the day on which it was received. It was impossible to do more to bring the proposal officially before the Superintendent of Aucklaud.

At the annual meetmg o£ the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Mr. D. T. Stuart read a paper on the present bankruptcy law. Ho moved that a committee be appointed to examine into the. working of the Act. Mr. Hunter, M.H.R., said the principle -which had been laid down was that any alteration from-ths old Act must be an improvement, and it was on this principle that he and Mr. Pearce and others had -worked to get it passed. It tnf not anticipated that the Act would be a perfect one ; a perfect Bankruptcy Act was a thing unknown, even in fcheinother country; experience showed that, and session after session the Imperial Parliament was called upon to amend, and no doubt it would lie so here. He had not the slightest doubt that the Minister for Justice would be quite ■ willing to make any alteration which the Chamber thought the working 'of the Act shewed to be necessary, but here the question rose in his (Mr. Hunter's) mind, had the Act been sufficiently tested to enable them to know exactly where the necessity for amendment arose ? Even the profession ecarcely understood the working of the Act yet. There was yet a great deal in practice to be regulated'by the Judges, who had the power of framing regulations." ;; to the reprint of The Times annual news summaries which we noticed a few days ago, a .London correspondent o£the LylUllon Times says :—A note at the end of the book states that its contents were''set up" in ten days, of eight hours each, by four lads working at two composing machines, being at the rate of 2150 lines per It was then printed from stereotype plates in perfected sheets of 12S pages each on the AValter press, at the rate of 12,000 per hour. These facts seem to prognosticate a great future yet for type setting machines, which have hitherto been, fought shy of by newspaper proprietors as a class, thongh the Graphic has been printed by a machine of the kind for several years. ■ State of Her Majesty's gaol, Auckland, for the week ended March 25,1576:—On remand, 2 males ; awaiting trial, 7 males; penal servitude, 35. males ; hard labour, So males, 37 females; imprisonment, 2 females; default of bail, 3 males, 1 female; debtors, 3 males; received during the week, 2G males, 11 females; discharged during the week, 27 males, 9 females. Total in gaol, 135 males, 40 females. I The anniversary public tea meeting of the Parnell Wesleyan Church will take place at 6.30 o'clock this evening, after which » public meeting will be held, when addresses will be delivered by several ministers ana others. Notice is given elsewhere of on extraordinary meeting of shareholders in tne Tairua Gold Mining Company, to be held this afternoon. The attention of shareholders is called to the announcement An extraordinary meeting of shareholders of the Tairua G. M. Company will be held at the office of the company, Bank buildings, Queen-street, to-day, at 2 p.m. . f A bankruptcy notice re John Blair, oSydney, appears in another column. A University notice appears elsewhere.