Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5635, 8 December 1879, Page 4

Iα our comments mi the late inquest some injustice was done the Government; overseer, Mr. Wetheridge, for which, however, he is himself to blame. It appears that he reported the dangerous way in which the work Mas being done to the Government engineer, who, more than once, warned. Mr. Dempsey. We are glad that this was so, aud if it had been stated at the irquiry we should liavo been spared the disagreeable tas'i of making the adverse remarks which, iu iti absence, became nece.nsary. List evenmg the Rev. A. W. Webb, pastor of the Wellesley-street Baptist Chapel, delivered a discourse on " Spiritualism : the atv.tude of Christians towards it." The rev. geutleuiau selected a3 liia text, Timothy, cLap. 4, vi., "JS'ow the spirit spcakcth expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving hted to seducing spirits, aud doctrines cf Jevils,'' and the whole gist and reasoning of the address went to show that, even where the spiritualistic phenomena was genuine, it was accomplished by the agency of diabulism. Me of whoso reformation Origen iM'.l not despair, aud of whom the uiymtl-iui»de-l Shakespeare hai saM, " The Piinje of Darkness is a g'utleman," unj' fairly demur to thn indictment. Whatever else may be lard to the door of the best-abused per=ouat;e ia Christendom, his back is not broad enougu to bear all the absurdities of spiritualism. A commission appointed by the German Government to investigate the best class of inks to be employed for official hav-e just presented their rtport. They aie of opinion that the best of all is made from gall-nuts. This is the kind used by the New Zealand Treasury Department when Road Boards and County Councils re applications for unpaid subsidies.

In the article on " The TiraWT^JT f Auckland," in Saturday', i 8! TC 2 oi t-.ntly omitted to notice the UDLer J-iV 14 years. It is at prerent t«n?n ' W 40.000 feet of timber per wwk but a? ° Nt the now machinery is fiui-hed th* struction of which ia in the baa.le of M D " MasefieldandCo.. and expend to h e S?" for service about the end of Jannarv $ output w.!l be increased to 70,000 or SO 000 feet a-week. ou .WO There is a current belief that de»tt> 1 , all, and that the true U*,,*blic U ii ,t'» cemetery. To judge from the none but good people ever yet buried there Occasionally, however, the truth hi™ 1 der, will out. The foilowin 3 ", *.n AnT" lian epitaph:—"A. M.c Fort 3 V f n T *' 41.Carmody' S Whisky. iw'^ , ?*« Duuedin cemetery the author-hm of a p line passage has bteu carried f u ther -iflM and it reals thus on the tomt stone•-!«.?; is appointed unto men once to die ' « ■ aud Murray, George-street, Dunedin '• *"?' an Auckland cemetery may be seen ,'„ ° mental tablet, the record ou wm V n ok hazy idea of the sexei:—"Sacred to «.* memory of , the beloved wife of ' I shall go to him, but he shall not rctii? to me.'" '«nrn Our Onehunga correspondent writes •— " At tbo beginning of the past winter i f of the young men of Onehunga, anxious f mutual improvement, formed » claa'j of th usual description for the purp.se of di sions, readings, recitations, & c an ,i ™?' close of the arst session their friends to an evening eutertiinn i which took place in the Masonic Hall' 0 ?.,• evening of December 4. Tiie ijr ( >«;,l \ . the cl-.ss, Mr. J. D. Ja,k 3 ,',„!,,° f avoidably absent at the tirst part of tfc evening, so the chair was occupied l )v th zealous vice-president, Mr. \ Whvf ? c opene 1 the business with "au , p J™' $» epeech. Readings, recitition-, atrt dialo.u« were given by several of the members of tfc class, and several lady friends enlivened th proceedings with eongs aid instrumaatal music. About 150 visitors e; jiyed a nVas aut evening." !••»• On Friday last Mr. R. Robertson 0 [ Otahulm, received Mr. Laybourn'a silver medal, awarded to him as the wiuutr of th first prize for best salt butter, at the late show. 'J he delay has arisen through the u;eeS3ary inscription having to be engraved on it. It will be remenibcre.l that the companion medal waa won by Mr. Washer for cheese. These medals were from the ntditr of Mr. Teuteuberg, engraver, Queen-street are very handsomely designed and finished' and are creditable alike to tho donor and re' cipient. Van Ostiu's comedy, entitled "Old Bachelors," was repeated on ni"ht at the 'J heatre Royal. There was a good house. The comedy was followed by a pietty operetta, entitled "ILadrom"o r The Robbers." The words of which are by Mr. Lingard, and the music by Sign*, Opert. It is very sprightly and full 0 [ colour, though a trilie. Tiiptolimouse Figg formerly a green-grocer, developed into an aitist, he ia sketching in au Alpine valleytime, early morning, Mrs. bring asleep , iu the neigebouring hotel. The banditti ' come down upon him, led by the Queen (Miss BlanehcLeopoldJ.who, though a widow,' ' does uot objict to marry again. Figg is elected by the for the happy situation, i aud he is dressed in the arms aud cloib sof ; the late Captain or King of the Rubber*. Mrs. i Figß has been awakened, comes to so k her : husband, and the robbers command Fijrg to . relieve her of her "jewels, cash aud, ij"e." It ia as if Loid Alleasb, in " II Roberto," i had to practice the role of bandit ou Lady Allca-h. The songs are very goo.l. The musical theme is familiar, but the connections of the scenes and songs are ori-inal. It was a very pleasant variation froiii the comedy, funny and humorous as "The Old Bichekrs" is. For this evening " David Darrick" is anuouucuJ. The operetta will be repeated. • T<vo Orientals have been perambulating our streets of late, attired ia baggy breeches and Turkish fez, the former article containing about 42 yards of blue silk, and fearfully and wonderfully made at that. Public cutiosity has been aroused as to the why and wherefore of the mission of these Easterns here. In another column it will be seen that the distinguished strangers, N. Kaart and Mehemet Ali (not he of Balkans memory), will open au Oriemal Kxhibitioo on Saturday npxt at the Albeit Hall, Darbystreet. It will c >ntain a collection of carioE, cabinet-work and bijouterie, in the best style of Eastern craftsmen. Amongst the most worthy of note are cornelian ring?, frjm the Red Sea ; olive wood, from Olivtt: cabinetwork, made from wools ob'aimd at Hebron, Bethany, Damascus, and Mount Bashan. H ere is to be found the Rose of Sharon, of sjcred farn?, Ve ad Sea a; pies, a brick out of the Temple of Solomon, the Ten Commandments (new edition), eggs Ecentefl j-jth attar of roses, eggs for darning stockings, (whatever that may mean). Ihe firm is great on eggs, but if these were four-and a-half-ouuee arragementa, like the one we recorded last week, they -would not be disposed to waste attar of rosea upon them. The exhibition is a very varied one, and contains, among-t other relics too numerous to mention, a 10-'k of her hair given by the Qceen of Sheba to Solomon, a tail believed to belong to one of the Bulls of Bashan, and a ram'a horn (cracktd) found in the vicinity of Jericho. In fact, half tho curios are only to be seen, save at this exhibition, but by going to the last-named locality, as a number of people go upon the good old adage, "seeing is believing," a large variety of photographic views of tbe Holy Land will be on exhibition for the satisfaction of the curious. Last, but not least in the exhibition, comes faith, Hope, aud Charity. It will take a good deal of faith to believe all that is said about the relics; but certainly not ni'ire than has been manifested by those who have nightly swallowed Mrs. Britten's revelations from the "sphere?." A considerable number of the members of the Order of Good Templars, and other friends of the temperance movement iu Tauranga, assembled in the vacant ground mar Mr. Bodell's residence, on the Cameron Uoad, on December 4, to witness the laying of the foundation-block of the Good Templars' Hall whish is to be erected there. This body, which was established in Tairanga about livo years ago, has already ga'iied a lai-jje number of adherents, aid, whe-i the subject tif building premises for tho meetings of the brethren and sibt.rs was mooted more than a year aj;o, the projet was ei.tered :nti> with great spirit by the numbe s, and in a short time nearly £l'2O was nised towards the oarryiug-out of the work. The land on w.iich the building is to be er.eteil is freehold, aud the property will be vtsted iu ti ustees for tbe beueiit of the !o Ige for all tima to come. The election of the Imilding has been entrusted to Mr. David Lundon, tLe architect being Mr. B. S. Corlett Mra. Britten delivered her last lecture in the Lorne-street Hall last night, the .-uliject being "The Second Coming of Ciiri.-t, or, the Religion of the futuie" The lia"l was well lilted with hearers The leutuiess was olorj'ient in refeiring to the wais carried on by Chriatims in the name of religion. Xo less than 1229 sects of Christians hal disturbed the peace of the world with horrible wars. Slie described the persecution of the Douatists. Even at the present Jay l-gions were sent forth to murder each ether, and ia every country, of whatever cuid the rulers might be, chaplains were dir cted to bless their banners iu the name of the Prince of Peace. She claimed for support of her message that Chri-t never formul >ted a creed, never uttered a dogrn* or a command but one which was of universal application aud known to all. She described tbe inthieuces which reformed opinion would have, and unfolded the results of a rational bel.ef and of a religion whoso saving power would admit of veiificatiou. On Saturday John 11.->we, the (oramnn or Mr. Dempsey's men working .it F»r' '"'™- mart, was brought up .it tho Folic? <-OUrt, at the instance of tho jnn.iicip.il authorities, for blasting without a porniit. lie pleaded guilty to tho blasting, but not to the other portion of tho charge, and carefully drew troin his pocket and placed before the startled gaze of the Town Clerk his permit. It appears that the City Surveyor had issued it, but that it had not, according to us-iye, been countersigned by the Town Clerk; and of course, not having come under that officer's notice, he was unaware of its existence. There was no help for it but to withdraw the prosecution aud quash pioceedinga. The preeent session (says the Post) will bo remcmbeied by the ladies of Wellington as one of the most quiet, from an entertain-ment-giving and sucitty point of view, ever experienced in the colonv. There has not been, evm, the usual members' ball ; this, considering that the members have drawn two honoraria this year, can only be looked upon as somewhat shabby on their part.

On Saturday afternoon the p.s. City of Cork WM chartered to proceed toMotmhi w ! th provisions and stores for the children beloncinc to the Industrial School, now staying on the island, and a number of ladies and rentlemen accompanied the steimer. On approaching Motuihi the party was greeted with loud and prolonged cheering the vouthtul islanders. It is pos'iblo that thia inyful ebullition was occasioned by the eight of the provisions piled on the steamer's bridge from the fact that edibles had run Eouiewhiit short. Odc youthful urchin afterwards declared that for two days they had been -'living on nipis." The steamer was br .ucht alongside the wharf, and the Etons quickly landed by tho boys with the agility of lumpers, whilst the visitors made a pleasnnt tour ova- the island. The children apv> -ami in good health and sprits and well pleased with their stiy on the island. 1 hey report a narrow escape from drowning the previous day f> a l.ttie girl who was bathing in the bay, ai.il who was gallantly r.scued by a lad mined Michael Bresn. Mr. Barnaley the "governor of the i-land, wpains th.-.t there w:.s apparently litfe danger, as the girl cjul 1 float, wrll but having btiyed in th.- water longer t!iau t-ie others, fuuml herself out cf hi r depth. She could not swim, but had the presence < i mind tj tiuat and call for assistance, which was promptly rendered by this lad iu question, who was lisliiug iu a boat not far iu.ra the S[.ot. Aft r a visit of inspection by the schoul committee and their friends the party re-embarktd, and the City of Cork returne.l to town shortly after 0 o'clock. We have received the first number of a comic publication cilkd is published in Duneiiin, wlure " wnt is generally held «t a discount, and " the W hole Duty of Man" b.lisved to bo fulfilled by "the absorption of oatiuca!, the Sliort.r Catechism, and whisky." The "warmest"' thing in Suihiftine is a cartoon on tho late local Volunteer review. In an address to the newepap'-'is of tho colony th:< editor says : " We have no creed, and will only take to one when we have tried all. Poetry and music we love ; science we honour and will not ridicule. Man and his follies will be our tubj ■ ot for amusement; his politics, his social absurdities, his mental delusions, his moral wtaknesa, his encieavoms to attain to perfection:, and the foolish attempts to arrive at definite ideas on indetinite subject?. We are young to talk like but now we have spoken to yon we trust to be bitter acquainted so.'ti." One can only say, in the language cf l'omiuie Sampson, "Pro-di-gious !" The pol.'ce cells were quite empty last night. The only arrest made siucu Friday night was one Momau, ou a charge of petty larceny, and &ho was admitted to bail. Usually on Sunday night the ctlls are iu a crowded state, ljut last lrght wa3 a marked exception.