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New Zealand Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5729, 29 March 1880, Page 4

There was no telegraphic communication with Wellington on Saturday night, the wires beins; entirely interrupted. Last night, at 5.30 o'clock, all four wires south of Napier were in working order, but at 6 o'clock all were "in contact" again, so that only ona wire could be worked. These frequent interruptions infer a very bad state of the line.

Sir Arthur Kennedy (late Governor of Queensland) and his daughter will arrive here early to-morrow, by the P.M. s.s City of New York, en route to England. We understand that his Worship the Mayor will entertain the distinguished visitors during their brief sojourn in our midst.

The arrival of a ship from New Caledonia with, amongst h-r passengers, a number of liberated convict?, will keep alive the feeling that we must on no account suffer the population of this colony to be contaminated by JNew Zealand being made the receptacle for the criminal population of France. It is to be hoped that the representations now being made on the subject to the French Government will be successful; but if they are not, this colony will have to pursue its own course. The Government takes all the care it can that persons of bad character will not be allowed to come here from England, and it cannot be tolerated that the criminals of France should be liberated upon our shores. The matter will soon make itself felt in a tangible shape. The liberated convicts mnst be kept under police surveillance, and if a few score even come here the police will have to be strengthened.

A man named Durant was arrested yesterday, by the detective police, on a charge of stealing £7, the property of a woman named Annie Wilson. It was, we believe, an ordinary brothel affiair, but the police have been able to trace several notes, and they are identi6ed. L. H. Jellings, wellknown in local racing circles, was arrested, on warrant, on a charge of obtaining £10 on false pretences, with intent to defraud a man named .Lynch, of Kaipara. The other arrests made were thirteen on charges of drunkenness, assault, and breaches of the Vagrant Act,

Last night, about 10 o'clock, the residents of Wyndham-street were alarmed by hearing the shrieks of a woman, and cries of " Murder !" and "Police!" Constablo Walker was speedily or the scene, and arrested a man named Michael Quinn, who, it appears, was endeavouring to inflict bodily injury on a Mrs. Hanson. Quinn had during the day, according to the statement of Mrs. Hanson, come to tho back door of her dwelling, and, on her husband opening it, had assaulted him with stones, cutting him badly on tho forehead and nose. In the evening Quinn had prowled around, and had watched his opportunity to assail her as above stated. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hanson went to the police station, and laid charges of assault against Quinn, who strenuously asserted his innocence. Hanson's face was plentifully adorned with sticking.plaister, and he seemed to have been badly cut. Mrs Hanson and Michael Quinn have frequently figured in the Police Court together. It was only about a month ago that she had him up before Mr. Barstow on a charge of threatening language, one of several instances in which he has suffered imprisonment for pursuing and annoying her. On that occasion he promised the magistrate if he would let him off that he would leave the place, and never cast his e3"es upon licr again. Mr. Barstow consented to let him go, but assured him if he ever came up again on the same charge he would punish him severely. It appears that Mr'. Hanson and Quinn formerly lived together, but have for some time been separated. The "greeneyed monster" has hitherto proved too much for Michael, and last evening he broUe out in open reb llion against his more legitimate successor, the Dutchman.

A very serious accident happened on the 25th March (says our Waikato contemporary) to a son of Mr. McSweeney, of Hamilton, working for Mr. Missen, bootmaker. It appears that the lad in quest'on, Charles McSweeney, was cutting out a t .e-piece, when the knife slipped, and entering the inner side of the ltft wrist, just at the pulse, ripped up the arm to a length of five inches, cutting to the bone the whole distance, severing one artery and two or three veins. The hemorrhage was of coarse profuse, but Or. Sandes's consulting-room being close at hand, he sought relief. The doctor, however, was absent attending his duties as medical man to the railway employees on the line; but the services of Mr. It. F. Sandes wero at once available, who performed the necessary operations for stopping the hemorrhage, and sewed up the wound, which, we need scarcely say, is a very severe one, and will prevent the lad from working for some tirae—indeed, unless the bleeding breaks out again, the bandages will not be opened for a fortnight.

An interesting musical entertainment is announced to tike place iu the Theatre Royal this evening, entitled "An Evening with Tom Moore, or a Night in the limeral.l Isle." Moore, it need hardly bo stated, is the national poet of Ireland, and his sustained poetic efforts ia their day s"eru> classed with those of Byron and Scott. But his fame is more likely to be perpetuated in his minor works, sucli as 1113 " Irish Melodies," allowed on all hands to be compositions of exquisite grace and sparkle. Moore was one of the foremost wits and liumouris's of his time, so that the entertainment should take much pleasantry from the associations which surround his connection with political and literary contcmporarif s. The executants will be Messrs. H. and W. F. Baker, who have a very high reputation as vocalists, and great experience as entrepreneurs.

Mr. Theophilus Cooper, sen , sends the following :—"I am somewhat surprised that some of your scientific contributors have not favoured your readers with their observations upon the appearance of a very remarkable meteor, which flashed across the heavens on Thursday evening, about nine o'clock. I have seen many in different parts of the world, but none which for size and brilliaucy approached the ons seen on Thursday evening. My attention was drawn to a white cloud—the only one then visible—the centre of which became suddenly very bril liant. The brilliancy increased lapidly, and, after a few seconds, a metecr dashed through, sending forth numerous scintillations, aud leaving a train of light in it 3 course. One peculiarity which struck me was, that it seemed to momentarily retard in its flight, and then partially explode and elightly change it 3 course, which was in the direction of S.E."

The amateur entertainment to be held this evening in the Choral Hall, in aid of the Public Hall at Mount Albert, promises to be a very successful gathering. Several ladies and gentlemen have volunteered their services, and as the programme is a varied one, consisting of piano and violin duets aud theatricals, those who patronise the en.tertainment will enjoy * very pleasant; evening's amusement.

An African wild beast show arrived k ? the fiangitira from Wanganni on Sa'n/n ; The show, which comprises a large lion open in Auckland iu a few days. ' Wlli The Thames Advertiser stat»s tha* a unusual phenomenon in this part'of world was visible in Shortland and Par • on Friday afternoon, about 5 o'clock T*' mediately after some heavy thunH waterspout was observed in the mr Ji a t the Piako river, and a few seconds ah ■ broke, presenting an exceedingly

Mr. Sheet an, M.H.R., , to visit the Thames and address h;» tuenta about the end of next ri° n5t '~ Advertiser. ~ ' '"Wi't

\oung bcott, whose wonderful n P ,r„ ances XQ the South as a walker against t° as well as in competitions, has tie- ? e * great amount of interest has ar-i-"f a Auckland with his trainer, and will • 10 some exhibitions of his extraordinary prior to his departure for Sydney wh*- * is to compete with Edwards for the pion3hip of Australia. Edn-ard- • m * present the holder of the Australian M? ) the forthcoming match will not b« th ■» ocession on which he will hn-o 5 flrst « Little Wonder." Scott I over 16 years of age. His p3tve P r3 f * '"He ance are wonderful. He defeif-,7 ~ ,eadnrin a matsh when he wa3 oil vI - age, his weight then being 4st was the match for seven m il» s , n . ."J 3 championship and £100. Another , J\ e for 100 miles was arranged shirH«.? wards, and again Scott proved ti, ?f:erhis time for the long 52imns. He accomplished the seven m'?* in GOmiaa. lOsecs. A competition f the champion belt of New 7, , , took place afterwards, when nine of*' best men who coold be selected comreted Scott came in first, having ae«mpli s h el infi miles in 23hrs. 22mms. Henderson 0 - \r . bourne, was second; Drummoud of Dun*,l; third ; and West, of Sydney, fourth r' fore the match it was arranged tintwinner should be sent to eonte t championship of Australia with Edward and of coarse Scott's victory nominated Mm for the task. He will proceed to Syd n »v in about five weeks to enter the li'ts for'th championship and £200 a side. He has on several occasions in ihe South essayed to walk 112 miles in 24 hours, but =!"ihou-h he has not yet succeeded in accomplishing that extraordinary feat, his backers are n«. suaded that he can do it. He will renew the endeavour in Auckland aa soon arrangements can be made for a suitable hall and the opening exhibition will be duly ad! vertised as soon as the hall is secured.

On Saturday afternoon information was brough to the police station tbata man a 1 the Whau named James Pike, whilst suffering from delirium tremens, was using threatening language and acting in a very violent manner" to the alarm of some of his neighbours! Some constables went out with a conveyance and secured him after some trouble. He was brought into town and placed in the lock-up.

Mr, K. Lathrope, late constable over the married people ot the Earl Granville, writes to us a letter in reply to that of the late matron of the ship. Phoebe Porter, but it is too lengthy for insertion. He emphatically contradicts the assertions made by the late matron, as to his being one of the greatest grumblers on board the ship. He states, as showing how little she could have known of him or his duties, that be never saw her until the immigrants were landed on Motuihi. The proper persons to ,prefer complaints against him, he says, were the captain and the doctor, and as both those officials were satisfied with the maniier in which he had fulfilled his duty, he can afford to dispense with the extra judicial opinion of the matron.

It will be observed, on reference to our advertisements, that the line of railway to Waikomili, beyond the Whan, has been opened for public traffic. Today, the trains will be special, on account of the races at Henderson's Mill, but for the future, until further orders, the daily time table will l>3 published.

We observe that Mr. Edgc-r's lecture rn "Charles Dickens" has been republished in pamphlet form, sosthat many persons who were unable to Wf>resent at the delivery of the lecture will thus be enabled to pernse it.

Tho Thames Advertiser of Friday has the following respecting the funeral of the chief Hoterene Taipari:—" About 300 Europeans, principally women, assembled at the ilaori carved house on the Parawai road, yesterday afternoon, at two o'clock, to witness hie funeral obsequies of the late chief Hoterene Taipari ; but they were considerably disappointed with what they saw, aa what promised to be a very imposing affair proved to be only a funeral of the usual European kind. At two o'clock, the hour appointed for the commencement of the ceremony, there were about 250 Maoris (including representatives from tribes in the I'iako, Ohinemuri, and Coromaudel districts), seated within the fence, most cf whom were crying for tho loss they had sustained. Occasionally, however, the most prominent natives present would rise and extol the virtues of the deceased. This was kept up for about an hour, and would no doubt have been continued longer had not the driver of the hearse requested that a move should he made without further delay. A few minutes previous to the removal of tho coffin, which was lying in the porch of the runanga house, all the nearest relatives of the dec asel walked up to it and took a last look at its inmate, after which they indulgod in another 'cry.' The body was then removed to the hearse, and Wikitoria, the aged widow of deceased, drew tears from the eyes of many of the female spectators by her exhibition of gri-f. She clung frantically to one oE the posts of the building, and it was with difficulty that she could be persuaded to relinquish her hold, and follow the remains ot her husband to their last resting-place at Totara Puint. The procession was a very small one, and consisted of only a few natives, ar.d eight or nine carriages containing Europeans, hundreds of Maoris walking on the footpaths instead of following the cortege. On reaching the Maori Church the coffin to 3 taken into it, and a portion of the burial service of the Church of England read by the native minister, Rev. Wi Turipona, in an impressive manner, after which the body was replaced iu the hearse, and the procession resumed its march to the Point. Ohm? to the steepness of the hill the coffin, which was covered with a handsomely-ornamented velv'-t pall which cost ten guineas, bad to be carricd to the top. On arrival there the concluding portion of the service was given, and the body was consigned to the cold ground amidst the sobs of the natives as-em-bled round the grave, which is only a feiv feet away from where his old friend Rapana sleeps. It is t'se intention W. H. Taipari fo erect a splendid monument over the grave of his father."

The subj-ct proposed for the Prize Pssay for ISBO, in connection with the New Zealand University, is "The lufluenca of Latin Civilisation upon the Kngiish People and their History." The value of the prize is £10, to be given in books. I'j-says have to be sent in on or before the 31st December, ISSO, with a motto prefixed.

Messrs. Joseph May, Benjamin Maclean, Thomas Morrin, James Dilworth, and James Wallace are gazetted the members of the Cattle Board for the district of Auckland North, Mr. Joseph May being the chairman ; and Messrs. Every Maclean, William >tce!e, Henry Buttle, Arthur Albert Fanthatn. ana Jame3 Storey to be the members of the Cattle Board for the district of Anuklaud South. Mr. Every Maclenn to he chair man. Mr. F. C. Lewis ia appointed Cattle 1&" epector for the cattJe districts of North Auckland, South Auckland, and County Cook.

The Grand Lodge of New Zealand, 1.0. G.T., held a special session on G? Friday, at the Young Men's Christian Association Kooms, for the purpose of conferring the Grand Lodge degree. The whole of the officers residing in the province of Auckland were present, and a large number of the members of the Grand Lodge, who, with the candidates for the degree, had arrived by train and 'bases, Ac., from the lodges at a distance. The chief's chair was occupied by Brother Jenkins, the G.W. Councillor, in the absence of the G. W.C.T., who, having appointed members to fill the places of absent officers, opened the lodge with the impressive ceremony of the degree, when thirty-one members took their seats as members of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand. It was suggested by the executive to the members that it was thought by them that periodical meetings were desirable, but wished for their opinion a3 to its ad' visability. The matter was earnestly discussed, the majority of the members taking part therein, and eventually it was resolved that the meetings should be called t to be of a social character for the discussion of matters for the general welfare of the order. T- ia distance which many of the brethren had to return necessitated closing the lodge at an I early hour. The night being a beautifully bright moonlight one, there ensued a pleasant journey. Some had nearly twenty miles to I drive to reach their homes.