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New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 5996, 4 February 1881, Page 4

The s.s. Hinemoa arrived in the MannK yesterday morning. She brings severalml" sengers, among them Captain Edwin R \?" chief of the Meteorological Department ]Z sick leave Captain Fairckild, on his way Z from Wellington, landed a quantity of riif way material at Taranaki about 70 ton?in all. At tlie Onehunga wharf he landed 4n tons of stores for the Telegraph and 100 telegraph.poles! P T he gggj leaves again ior Wellington-via- Opun-ikc where she has some stores for delivery *

Iα another column will bo found an a,. count of the presentation of prizes, certifi cates of scholarship and proficiency at th * Ponsonby Public School. The large number of ladies present speaks -\yell for the interest taken in the school, and ia the edueatiou nf the children. The result of the day's Proceedings must be especially gratifying to Hr Swanson, who exerted himself so actively in the erection of the school, which is an ovnament to the district which he represents in the Assembly. The Inspector's report of the examination for standards, which -will l>. found elsewhere, reflects great credit on Mr" Bailey, the head teacher, and must l>o"extremely satisfactory to the school committee It will be seen that the percentage of eh;ltlren passed, and in all the standards : is double that of a city school, . reported tliu other day. The strength of a chain is. its weakest link, and as Mr. Bailey very jasdy observed yesterday, the real test of successful education in our primary public schools was not a scholarship or so (the one swallow which made the summer) but the' general progress in every grade and under Till th<> standards.

We have received files of the Moniteur Je la Nouvelle Caledonie, and of the Xeo-Cak-donieu, to the 21st Hit.' There is little news of local interest. Tiie Governor, Admiral Courbet, is Buffering from' indisposition. A fire has taken place at the Commissariat stores, Ifoimiea, Several members of the Municipal Council have tendered theit resignation to the Mayor-, on the ground that their rights and privileges had been in;, pugned. A petition of the inhabitants cf the colony has been sent to the Minister of Marine, Paris, praying the creation of a Conseil-General of the whole colony, to be elected by universal vote. The weekly sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court was held yesterday. There Avas a good deal of business disposed of. There was one case, however , , which appeared to created good deal of interest, no less fro-u the fact that the parties to it are well known than that the legal question involved is one of much public interest. This case was Somerfield v. Staines.': It fell through, however, upon a purely-technical point,"so that the legal question was not argued at all. The plaintiff sued the defendant to recover £12 9s 9d for goods supplied to defendant's wife, who is living apart from her husband. The defence was that the wife deserted the husband; that he never ordered the goods, nor gave his wife authority to get them. The question of " necessaries " stood in the form of a replication to this plea. His Worship the Resident Magistrate (Mr. J. E. Macdouald), although pronouncing no decision, drew attention to the recent law. upon these questions as laid down in the English Courts of Justice. That well-known hostelry the British Hotel, which for some years lias been occupied by Mr. Owen Humphries, was sold by auction yesterday, as the owner, Mrs. Seeats, has determined to take charge of the business. The whole of the property, including the house, which went for £16, was sold. A new building is to be erected in the room of the present one. Mrs. Sceate will cany on the business in premises in -Durhamstreet, adjoining the British, until the newhotel is erected. Mr. James Montgomery— an experienced man, who has carried on business in Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga, and other places—takes charge of the" business. --.--.

There are at present on the roll on the Ponsonby Public" School about 460 children. On the re-opening of the school from 60 to 70 children had to be refused admission from want of accommodation. The school committee have brought the matter under the notice, of the Board, with a request that they would take such steps .to provide addi- 1 tional school accommodatiau.-as the necessities of the district require.

The Kaipara Maoris have just completed a house for the entertainment of strangers who may be sojourning ' at Reweti,' Kaipara. It is .conveniently situated,- not more than 100 yards from their new church. It is built of kauri, and is 40 feet long by 20 in is well lighted, and has a nice verandah on its eastern side. It altogether reflects great credit on the building- skill of the natives, who have completed it withont any Euro peau aid whatever.

The City Public Baths are nearly completed, and will be handed over this week, in all probability. Mr. White has faithfully performed his contract, and the enterprise will be a credit to the city. Some premonitions of what may occur are indicated by the fact that the larrikins have already taken possession of the" baths, clambering over the fence at early morn, disporting themselves in the water, and throwing the timber of the contractor into the baths. Unless some stringent regulations are prepared and enforced, the probability is that-decent people will be debarred using the baths, from the language and conduct of these-gentry.

Everybody has heard about the beauty of the young ladies of Taranaki, but a local paper sets forth a new claim to celebrity : — " We are sorry to say that as regards garden robbing, the mischief has not been perpetrated by the sterner sex alone, therebeing -well-founded sxispicions of females indnlginjDj in midnight raids on the strawberry beds of suburban residents."

The match between the Australian Eleven and Auckland Twentjr-tvyo is not far distant now. .Is it not time that our men were chosen to do battle with the Australians? The selection committee appointed during January had better look to their work,-, unless they want to see the Auckland cricketers fare worse than our Southern friends have done.

Mrs. A. jtf. Hall, whose 'death, was announced in . yesterday's, paper,, was. anauthoress, not an actress,, as misprinted. ; • The ouly business at the Police. Court yesterday' was the 'hearing 1 of two charges of drunkenness: They were first offences, and. the customary penalty of as and costs, with the alternative of 24 hours' imprisonment,. was imposed. Mr; .Bafstow, R.\L,- presided*..

The s s. Rotomahana three boxes, containing 2G6O6ZS. gold, from the Thames yesterday for the Bank of New Zealand.;-,: . Not lono-ago we referred to the visit of Mr Justice Gillies to the porcelain manufactory at Sevres,'and to the fact that he was fnrnished with a sample of the clay used there for the finest wares, for the purpose of comparing with any similar clays found in North New Zealand. Some of our rural settlers have been examining the mineral resources in their districts, and several splendid specimens of the china clay or kaolin have been forwarded to Mr. J. A. Pond from some of the put-districts. From the County of Mangonui he has recently received some particularly pure specimens of this clay; others have been obtained from districts nearer to Auckland, and altogether -there appears a reasonable expectation that this part of the colony contains large deposits of material suitable, for the finest classes of porcelain ! ware. Now that fresh interest has been excited in. the matter, we doubt not that many country settlers witt forward samples of such materials found in the several districts, and thus aid Mr. Justice Gillies in his self-im-posed task of comparing the various samples of kaolin found in this province with the standard sample brought with him from Sevres.

Mr. L. J. Bagnall, of Turua Sawmills, Tharaos river, writes to the Thames Advertiser, in defence of Kopu as the future harbour for the Thames. He says :— "At low ■water spring tides there are 5 feet of water on the bar, and 6 feet 6 inches at low water neaps. At spring tides the water rises 12 feet, and at neaps 7 feet 9 inches, which give 17 feet of water at spring tides, and 14 feet at neaps. In proof of what I state I can inform your readers that niore than one vessel drawing 14 feet of water and upwards, have been loaded at Turua, and crossed the bar. Kopu is this minute available for vessels up to, say 700 tons, if the trade of the district required such large vessels, without the expenditure of one shilling. Ido not deny the advantages which Tararu has for forming a harbour, or the. con- . venience which it would, be to this place, but I do not think that any person m his sober senses imagines that less than £50,00,0 would provide 'deep, water and' good shelter' there. It will not do to.run down the harbour which nature has supplied ready made to our hands—such places as Napier, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Timaru, Oamaru,' "Waitara, Raglan, Greymouth, Hokitika, and other places, would consider themselves blessed did they possess such an one. It is easy of access, perfectly safe, and affords sufficient depth of water for the convenience ■of all such vessels as the trade of the port -will probably require for many years to come. If my memory serves me right, I think you will find ifc stated in your columns that, at an examination by Captain Best, there were 18 feet of water on the bar. " :

\vjfc. Alfred J. Osborne, of Tryphena Bay, Great Barrier Island, writes to say that he is the offending settler referred; to by Mr. Blackwell in his recent letter asking advice .in respect to sheep trespass. Mr. Osborne's letter is too long for publication, and has that objectionable personal tone as if it were •written under a feeling of irritation ; but lie makes several statements which are at variance with those of Mr. Blackwell. Mr. Osborae implies that Mr; Blackwell is not the best of neighbours, owing to the way lie permits his cattle to trespass upon his neighbours' properties, and that the trespass of sheep he complains of is caused by neglect to erect his own share of the dividing fence in a substantial manner. A sheep-proof fence appears to have been broken by Mr. Black-, well's cattle, and. instead of 840 sheep trespassing, Mr. Osborne states that on that part of his farm he had not moie than 120 sheep running, and that about half of them got through; and that, instead of their being trespassing every day, "at the utmost they ■would be on his grass one hour per day." Mr. Osborne states that since he began farming, some eight years ago, instead of driving off. his neighbours' cattle when they trespassed, his practice has been to put up a fence to keep his neighbours' cattle cut. He farther adds: "He (Air. Blackwell) forgot to tell you that when putting up his part (not yet finished) of the boundary fence I made him an offer to bore four post-holes instead of three, and that I would pay him for boring the fourth hole, and-put in the fourth rail myself; also, that I offered to lend him my four-hole boring machine, which offer he declined. Now he intends to keep sheep, and of course has to put wire on the same fence, to make it sheep proof." Mr. Osborne alto mentions several .instances of Mr. Blackwell's cattle doing injury to his neighbours'grass and property, and refers to the injury done by the pigs which he kept. One who would thus appear to be not very particular about the rights of others,-should not complain of. an occasional accidental tresspass, especially, if his own neglect in erecting a substantial dividing fence is the main cause of the unwilling tresspass. Mr. Blaekwell arid others will learn by this letter of Mr. Osborne's, the necessity of rigidly adhering to statements of fact in their letters asking for information, for if incor- , rect statements are. made, they are liable to occupy a rather undignified position by the inaccuracies being pointed out.

- • The whole of the bananas—some 500 bunches—brought by the s.s. Southern Cross from Levuka were completely spoiled, and were only fit for pigs' feed or manure. The voyage was so rough that the hatches were battened down, so that the bananas, which soon became over-ripe with the extreme heat, melted into a soft mass, the process being considerably accelerated by the motion of the veesel. ■

We learn from the Melbourne Age that Captain McEachern, of the ship Sir Jamsetjee Family, has presented the trustees of the Pablic Library with a portion of the Viking's ship, lately discovered.in Norway; and has also furnished them with a photograph of the ship as she appeared during the process of excavation. Commodore Wilson has also ' presented to the gallery an oil painting of the Lady Nelson, the first ship that entered the Heads. Which edition is to be read in the schools if the Bible-iii-Scliools Association carries out its way '! Are the children to be taught that part of Mark is a forgery ? If so, will this raise the sanctity of the Bible in the minds of the children ? If the present edition is so badly .translated as Mr. Furlong seems to say, that it takes years of reading, the originals in their Hebrew and Greek . before they can be appreciated, nay, even understood, what is to be done 1 Iβ the teacher to give any explanation? It is a pity that the Rev. Lindsay Mackie had not explained these things, instead of quoting from the silly speech of our horse-racing Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson.—Dunedin .Echo.,-.... , ■. ■■ - ; The Lydia Howard (opera bouffe)\ Company, are announced to make their first appearance in a burlesque operetta, entitled »"%binson Crusoe," on Tuesday evening next. This company' has been greatly enriched with talent of various kinds since it w as iast in Auckland. ■■ It now consists of twenty artists of established rejmtation. For Wednesday night, Byron's burlesque opera entitled "Ivanho," will be produced; and ■.'-;-.Ptt Farnie's " Nemesis." The coiripauy has. been spoken of as one of the ■•■ifbee'i organised in the southern colonies. "There is a great' deal of dash, verve, and , in the lady members. Indeed, all ■, the members'are said t» be thoroughly.upJiO ';&eir business. '" - :.

A race for open sailing-boats of about 20 feet, for a£l sweepstake, "isarranged to take place on Saturday. The Imp,.Hattie May, Observer, Madgie, Eunice, Comet, - and Witch are expected to take part, and it is •just possible that the course may extend as far as Drunken Bay buoy. Details will be settled to-night at the Waitemata Hotel. Several years ago Baron Von Miiller published a book upon the "Select Plants , ' suitable for cultivation in Victoria. Several additions have since been published, each larger than the preceding one, and_ each edition subjected to a thorough revision of this industrious worker. An edition adapted to the climate of California has been published by the Califomian State Government, another has been published by the New South Wales Government, and a large one has also been published at Calcutta by the Indian Government. The demand for the work has been great wherever it has been rendered available for the people, as it coniSains a greater amount of valuable information and useful suggestions than any other work of the kind extant. We learn that the Baron has generously offered to prepare an edition adapted to the climatic range of New Zealand, adding thereto all the accumulations which he has made since the last edition was published, provided the New Zealand Government would do the printing. The new edition would probably contain some 400 pages of the most useful information which can be placed in the hands of our settlers ; and as it is not illustrated, the cost of production should not be large.; The Baron has reached that age that the love of wealth has died out, and his only desire is to be useful to those who with him have made this part of the world their adopted home; and, therefore, expects no remuneration for his editorial labours. Considering the advantages which might accrue frpm such a mass of valuable information which this book contains. being sown broadcast over the colony, which would he the case if the book were sold, as it has.hitherto been, at a nominal price, the Government might fairly undertake the simple conditions upon which Baron Von Miiller would authorize the re-publication, and supply the additional matter which he has collected,, and do the editorial work which would be neoessaay. If the attention of the Government, were drawn to the matter in a formal manner by some influential citizens or society, we doubt not that what we have suggested would soon be-carried out. . -

: The Aiiglo-Israel Association of New South Wales held its first meeting of the' curren session on the 22nd ult.. in the New Tern perauce Hall, Sydney. The president, Rev William Allwortb, in his anniversary ad dress, briefly reviewed the progress of AngloIsraelism in the colony. He emphatically refuted the report that was being spread by opponents to the cause, that the AngloIsraelites were propagating a new plan of salvation. It was matter of great satisfaction to hiin to know that a large Dumber of the clergy of all denominations were earnestly studying the question, and that some had openly avowed their belief in the identification. Mr. Allworth then expounded the difference between the everlasting covenant made to Abraham,, and the conditional covenant made with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, and showed that those blessings and promises made to the former were being fulfilled at the present day in the British people, and that.they were the only nation who were doing the work that had been assigned to Israel to do. The general secretary, Mr. Percy Williams, announced that the Association had become affiliated to the Metropolitan Association, London, and read a congratulatory message from Viscount Folkstone, the President of the Metropolitan. In a letter to the Daily Times Mr. W..-L. Philp, of the Central Terminus Hotel, says that there is no place in the world where liquors of ail kinds are sold so piire as in Dunedin. In proof of which assertion he states that on a recent sports day in Dunedin samples of different spirits from about a dozen different booths were seized by the police and submitted to analysis, raid in no case was any adiilteration found whatever.

The Timaru Herald, sketching the Native Minister, says :—" Mr. Rolleston has an intense prejudice againstwaste, jobbery, and humbug of every kind; arid as he cannot speak a word of Maori, and instinctively regards an interpreter a rascal, his dealings with the native race are likely to be particularly simple and straightforward. He has two very excellent qualities. He can say 'No,' and he never gives reasons."

A Melbourne journal, referring to Auek land exhibits at the Melbourne Exhibition says:—"Churns, kitchen ranges, and such small but important matters are shown by Artha, of the Thairies. Under the class of apparatus, Captain Bush (doubtless an old seaman), .of the Thames, contributes a model of new form of double purchase blocks."

"Chanticleer," North Shore, writes:— " The following experience may perhaps be interesting to those of your readers who have anything to do with the rearing of poultry. Last week, a hen of mine hatched a clutch of chickens, and left the nest, in which one egg of the setting remained uuhatched and unchipped. Thinking it was addled, I took it out of the nest, and placed it on the grass in the open air. There it remained. for the greater part of that day, and late in the afternoon I put it in a vessel of cold water, as I purposed to make use of it as a nest-egg, and took this method of freeing it from vermin with which the nest it came from had been infested. It remained soaking in the cold water out in the open air all night, and the next morning I put itinto a nest which a hen was laying, and just beginning in to be broody. Two days later, finding her sitting on the supposed addled egg, I turned her off, when, to my astonishment, I heard a chiming in the nest, which, on examination, I found to proceed from a chicken on the point of hatching from the egg I had too hastily concluded to be addled. I put the hen back, and the next morning had the satisfaction of taking from under her a strons? and lively chick, which is alive and well at the present writing, apparently none the worse for the severe treatment to which it was subjected while still within the shell. The moral to be derived from the foregoing, for the benefit of poultry fanciers, is, never destroy or abandon as spoilt a setting of eggs, especially if they happen to be valuable ones, simply because by some mishap or other the eggs seem to have become -what is called ' stone-cold.'"