Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8767, 6 January 1892, Page 4

The Pall Mall Gazette makes a serious Statement regarding the boilers in the colonial cruisers, lb states that similar boilers fitted up in other warships have proved absolutely worthless for speed, and that they are dangerous for stokers to work near them. The Gazette urges that this typo of boilers should be replaced. If there is any truth in its allegations it is imperative that the Colonial Governments should take immediate action to have the boilers in the Australian cruisers removed and replaced by others more efficient. The outrage at Dublin Castle is now assumed to be the work of Chicago dynamiters. Freights to New Zealand have been reduced. M. de Maupassant, the most picturesque and realistic French storyteller of today, has been placed in a lunatic asylum. He had previously made an unsuccessful attempt to take his life. Influenza is raging in the South of England. A Berlin despatch states that a nephew of Dr. Koch is reported to have discovered the baccilus of the disease. Among the passengers by the Wakatipu yesterday from Wellington was Dr. Macgregor, Inspector-General of Hospitals and Asylums, who is making one of his periodical visits to Auckland. The visit of Lord and Lady Onslow to Otaki, on the occasion of the presentation of Huia Onslow to Tamihana Te Huia, chief of the Ngatihuia, has furnished Mr. Sala with the material for a characteristic article for the London Daily Telegraph, in which he drags in all his Maori lore. He pats the Maoris on the back, but reminds them that they are a decaying race, and within a measurable period will become as scarce as the " kywi-kywi" and the "huia." The great " G.A.S." might, however, have shown himself able to spell kiwi correctly. Mr. Jones, watchmaker, of Karangahape Road, recently passed through Chicago, on his way to Auckland. While there he received a little brochure issued by the Board of Directors of the Chicago World's Fair, which contains an address of greeting from the Welsh people of America to tho Welsh of their Fatherland, and also an invitation from tho National Cymroderion Society, in the name of all the Welsh people ot the New World to the Welsh people of Great Britain, and especially to the managers and promoters of the National Eisteddrod to coino to their aid and co-operate with them in holding conjointly on an.imposing scale with bardic and musical dignity worthy of the antiquity, literature, and music of the Cymry, a grand International Eisteddrod in Chicago in 1393, during the World's Columbian Exposition. The following are the proposed grand prizes in the two main choral contests, and that of the bardic chair :For the first grand choral contest, mixed voices, each choir to number not less than 250, nor over 300 voices, first prize, 5000 dollars ; second, 1000 dollars. Also, a World's Fair Eisteddrod gold medal to tho conductors of the best and second best choirs. Second grand choral contest (male voice*), each choir to number not less than 50, nor over GO voices. First prize, 1000 dollars ; second, 500 dollars. Also a second gold medal to the conductors of the best and second best choirs. The bardic chair, alliterative ode ("Jesus of Nazareth"), not to • exceed 3000 lines, grand prize 500 dollars, and the carved oak bardic chair. Also, a gold medal, with the honour of being proclaimed chief bard, and of being chaired according to the ancient bardic ceremony. The brochure contains portraits of General W. Palmer (President of the National Commission), Colonel Davis (Director-General), and Major Handy (Chief of the Department of Publicity and Promotion). The Financial News of "November 14 has the following :—" If any country feel at this moment the special need of wise government and rigid economy, it is surely New Zealand ; but that colony seems to be the fool of an extravagant and socialistic Legislature. Formerly, members of the New Zealand House of Representatives received an ' honorarium ' of £210 a year. The Atkinson Government, when the necessity for retrenchment had to bo faced, reduced this to £150 a year, with half-pay for a second session, if there were two in a year. Recently the Labour party has made a desperate but futile effort to get the 'honorarium' called a ' salary,' to have it raised to £2-10 a year, payable monthly, and protected against the claims of creditors. This specimen of New Zealand reform will, perhaps, not be lost on the English investor, importuned from time to time to increase the already enormous debt of the colony." The Pall Mall Budget says :—" The somewhat singular combination of names of the Princess Beatrice's baby, who was baptised the other day at Balmoral, seems to have escaped general notice. ' Maurice Victor Donald' is the full title—tho latter name being, it is supposed, a delicate compliment to the land of his birth. There has not been a Royal Donald since Donald Bane ; but it must be confessed that ' Prince Donald' has not a very Royal ring about it." There were royal Donalds before there were royal Maurices or Victors, or even royal Georges or royal Alberts.

Mr. George Augustus Sail, in a leading article in the London Daily Telegraph, says:"A Maori lady is nothing without a short pipe, which she smokes" with the philosophic equanimity and the stoical determination of an Irish applewoman. Nothing, it would seem, can permanently wean the female New Zeulander from her beloved dhudeen. There is a story told of an officer in the British Army who, at the conclusion of our last war with the natives, settled in the bush ami became what is known as a " P*keha-.Maori," or white man affiliated to the native ways. He fell in love with a Maori princess, sent her to school in England, had her brilliantly educated, married her, brought her back to New Zealand, took a handsome hnuso for her at. Auckland', and introduced her to the best society Her manners were considered to be equally dignified and refined, and she became a sou, of leader of fashion ; but the married princess had vast landed possessions, and, her tit'l3 to some of these estates being disputed, she. was summoned to appear at a Court hdd for the settlement of land claims at a township half-a-day's journey from Auckland. Her husband accompanied her, and tfioy took up their quarters at the best hotel in the place. The next morning the gallantofficer unaccountably missed his wife, and siught for her, in vain, for a whole hour) He found her at last squatting, a la Tufque, on the steps of the Courthouse, in a black moire dress, a cashmere shawl, and her head enveloped in a herchiof of costly Brussels lace, tranquilly smoking a sliprt black pipe in the company of other Matri princesses, her friends." \

We certainly have some geniuses on th\ English Bench (writes our London correspondent), and Mr. Biron, the stipendiary at the Lambeth Police Court, must be one of them. A little girl named Alice Roby, aged 4j[, bus for some time been chargeable to the Union of St. Saviour's. Her grandmother, who is resident in Western Australia, urgently desires that the child should be sent to her. The guardians of the Union made inquiries, and finding everything satisfactory, resolved to send the child to Australia, where a career would be open to her. The general relieving officer attended at the Lambeth Court to obtain the necessary magisterial sanction. He produced papers, filled up, in which it Was j set forth that the child had given her consent to be taken to Australia. It is difficult to credit it, but the following dialogue then took place in Court :—Mi. Biron : is it clear that this infant has given conseib to go to Australia ? The Officer : That Is so. Mr. Biron had the child brought on fo the bench, and, addressing her, 'said : (Jin you tell mo where and what Australia is? The 5 child shook her head. M;. BironYou have no idea? Is it a place, or something to eit? Another shake of the heal by the child. Mr. Biron (to the')officer?: You ask me to say this child of lour aid a-half years old consents to go to Austral!. I certainly cannot say that she is Ciipablelf being a consenting party, as required L law. 'The child • was according] x tukfo ' back to the -workhouse. I ~;i| I 8 I

President Harrison, in his speech to Congress on December 9, said:—"The death of King Kalakaua in the United States afforded occasion to testify oar friendship for Hawaii by conveying the King's body to his own land in an available vessel with all due honours. The Government of his successor, Queen Liliuokalani, is seeking to promote closer commercial relations with the United States. Surveys for the mucri-needed submarine cable from our Pacific coast to Honolulu are in progress, and this enterprise ■ should have the suitable promotion of the two Governments. I strongly recommend that provision be made for improving the harbour of Pearl River and equipping it as a naval station.""

On November 25th, the United States steamer Albatross arrived at Honolulu, after making a survey from San Francisco to Hawaii for the proposed cable. Lieutenant Tanner, in command of the Albatross, stated to a reporter in Honolulu that there was no reason, in his opinion, why the cable could not be laid. There would be several difficulties to overcome, bat only such as are usual in laying deep-sea cables. The greatest depth reached was 3100 fathoms, the average depth being about 2500 fathoms. About 250 soundings were taken on the way, the last one being off Diamond Head, where a depth of 350 fathoms was found. The vessel took the great circle course in going down, and will make another survey in coming up, taking a straight course—a plumb line, as it is nautically termed. After leaving Honolulu the Albatross will cruise around the island to determine the best point for landing the cable. A consular report has just been issued by the Foreign Office dealing with the labour question in Belgium. It is compiled by Mr. Martin Gosselin, the First Secretary of Legation in Bruesele, and gives a digest of the report and recommendation of a Belgian Royal Commission on Labour, which few people outside Belgium are aware ever existed. As with the Berlin Conference, so in regard to the Brussels Commission, it serves chiefly to emphasise the comparative excellence of the conditions under which the English working - man lives. For instance, the miners of Seraing and Charleroi work some 10 or 11 hours a day for a wage averaging half-a-crown a day. Sometimes he earns more, but as frequently he earns less. English miners would consider life insupportable on 15s a week, and in Belgium money does not go nearly so far as in England. Commodities of all kinds, necessaries of life, and rent are much heavier. Many of the chief proposals of the Belgian Commission were years ago embodied in the English statute book, and compared with even Belgium, England may correctly be regarded as approaching the working man's Paradise. The death of Mr. Lewis Wingfield (says the St. James's Gazette) deprives London literary and artistic society of a well-known and popular figure. Not in any sense a great writer, Air. Wingfield was a clever, versatile, accomplished man, with a real interest in all that appertained to the lighter sides of literature and art. He had one of those varied and interesting lives which are not uncommon among the younger branches of the English aristocracy. He was traveller, war correspon dent, doctor, author, actor, and journalist; and he had written nevels, plays, books of travel, and newspaper skits. None of his books are very likely to live, though " Lady Grizell" is a capital novel. But his most permanent work was done in stimulating the progress of stage decoration and costume in the direction of greater accuracy and beauty. In matters of stage archaeology he was both an enthusiast and a connoisseur. Mr. William Deane, late of Enmore, Sydney, has left something more than £9000 to the British and Foreign Bible Society. A sum of £-28,000 13 to be equally divided between it, the Church Missionary Society, and the Church Pastoral Aid Society. The weather yesterday, cold and showery, with westerly squalls, was more like March than January. The pasturage will be greatly benefited by the rains, but the standing crops are expected to suffer slightly. Towards midnight the rain j ceased and the sky cleared up. I

The National Association of New Zealand held an adjourned meeting in the Young Men's Christian Association Rooms last night, when the series of resolutions submitted by the Council were further considered, and finally dealt with. A report of the proceedings appears elsewhere. The Executive Committee of the Northern Railway Leagueat its last meeting decided to send a surveyor with Mr. Hursthouse, C.E., who is to make a trip as far as Ongaruhe, the place at which it is proposed to make the divergence from the Northern Trunk Railway, and to inspect the country between that point and Stratford. A subcommittee selected Mr. H. M. Wilson, engineer to the Waitemata County Council, to accompany Mr. Hursthouse, and he v/ill make a report upon the engineering features of the country and its adaptability for settlement. The Hon. the Native Minister will probably accompany the party, and the League has issued a general invitation to any citizens who are willing to defray their own expenses. The party will start on the 18th instant, and will have to make a journey of forty or fifty miles, and will take about nine days in reaching Stratford from Auckland.

The general traffic on the Auckland section of the New Zealand railways during the Christmas and New Year's Holiday's has been very good. The receipts for December are, we understand, £1000 in excess ot the corresponding month of IS9O. This must be regarded as very satisfactory. At no time has the health of the city been so good as ac present. This says much for the City Council and also for the Sanitary Inspector, Mr. George Goldie, who is charged specially with looking after the health of the city. An exceptionally heavy crop of oats is reported on the property of Mr. Arthur Bruce Prebbleion, Canterbury. The oats were over six feet high, and an estimate of the crop may "be gathered from the fact that 1101b of the best Manilla twine, or an average of 101b to the acre, were used. It may be added, in further illustration of the heaviness of the crop, that the stookers were unable to make wages nt '2a Od per acre, and struck for higher pay. A fire occurred at the residence of Mr. Charles A. Robinson, Whangarei Heads] on Sunday afternoon last. His storo,' house, and stable were accidentally burned down. He was insured in the Union Fire Insurance Company for £75. Business people would do well to be on their guard against forged cheques. Two attempts have been made within the past fortnight or so to pass a couple on one of the banks. In the first case the signature of Dr. Lawry was imitated for £SO, and in the second that of Mr. H. Worthino-ton head teacher of the Wellesley-street public school, for £43 odd. There is reason to believe some very "smart men" have recently paid Auckland a visit. The letters and numbers on the cheques had all been carefully altered so as to prevent their being traced to the cheque-books from which they had been taken.

In our advertising columns will be found a notice to the electors by Mr. Alfred Kidd, who is a candidate at the East Ward City Council election. He has had former experience as b. city representative, and has come out in lesponso to a large requisition. One of the residents of Morningside complains that (he city refuse is deposited on an allotment in that district in the neighbourhood of the Western Springs, near* to Edgecumbi's Creek. He objects to this, not only of the ground that the health of people living in the vicinity is endangered, I but also biause there is reason to fear that the water? of the springs from which the city is supplied will be contaminated if the practice is' continued. The distance for the Wellington Championship Yacht Race on the '22ud instant will be abott 24 miles. # Advices have been received that the En*--lish Amateur Athletic Association, on December 14, decided to accord a hearty welcome to jtho team of athletes that the Hew Zealand Amateur Athletic Association proposes to sjendto England this'year. . Another ljttlt. girl was found astray in Queen-streefi, yesterday, by Constable Bailey, and taken to the police station. At the time she was in danger of being ran over by pacing vehicles.. It is astonishing the negligence shown by some parents in this city ii) looking after their young offspring, 9

! gj We have to hand the monthly Record (Young. Men's Christian Association) 0r January. With reference to the Grubb mission which has been going on , in Aug. tralia, the secretary of the Young Men'a Christian Association has received the following letter from Mr. P. S. Koran hon.*secretary for the Rev. G. C. Grubb :~I " Mr. Grubb desires me to thank you or letter of 7th, inviting himself and party to conduct a mission in Auckland. He "can give you no definite answer at present, bub will hope to do so shortly. Auckland >" s pretty sure to be included in Mr. Gr abb's programme of missions. We hope to ha in New Zealand about March next, after a, short mission in Tasmania." In the En». lish letter from Mr. W. Hind Smith that gentleman says No city charmed m a more for beauty of situation and climate than Auckland, »nd in no city had I 8 warmer or kinder reception. In Naw Zealand 1 see a great future for our beloved Young Men's Christian Association work, and regret that it should have been per', mitted in several centres to lapse or become feeble. Your readers, will be glad to know that, in spite of severe criticism from those who know little or nothing of our work, I fully believe that in the Youn<» Men's Christian Associations in Great Britain and Ireland we never had greater cause for thankfulness than now. The year - book recently published by tha National Council will show you what a sure and steady increase there has been in the members and associations. The development of the Foreign Mission element is a cause for joy; out of IS students at a Church Missionary Society College in London, eleven are Young Men's Christian Association men—" out and out." One of our northern branches recently sent out 13 of its members to the foreign field ; another, f34 ; another has 62: anc 1 a small London Branch has six ; and another four in the great ; harvest field abroad. A.v a. recent valedictory meeting of seven departing missionaries, each was an active member of a Youpg Men's Christian Association, seven Associations being there represented. As an outcome of my tour, we expect soon to send a travelling Young Men's Christian Association secretary tc Egypt and Palestine, another to India, and one to Ceylon, . h was my pleasure tc represent the Australasian colonies at the recent World's Conference, held in Amsterdam." Mrs. Bayerri, the converted Jewess, was to return to Toronto last November tc conduct another two weeks' mission in Association Hall. The Record gives excellent reports of tha Rev. W. J. Mayer's mission on behalf of She Barnardo Missicr Homes. { The man Morey, irho was the subject 0! the accident on the fvamo-Hikurangi rail way, was brought bj steamer from Whangarei on Monday night, and admitted tc the District Hospital for treatment. The excavations for the foundations o| the Mackelvie Art Gallery are now nearly completed. The contract for the erectioa of the building will shortly be proceeded with. | A correspondent says :—" The late i?suj of the Union Steamship Company's Guidebook can by no means be accused of flat tering Auckland. f Several of the leading institutions are not mentioned, such as our Art Gallery, bath?, etc., while the list of our places of worship and hotels is very meagre—a little over one page sufficing."

Several ciarges of a serious nature were dealt with by Mr. Bishop, R.M., at the Police Cotrfc yesterday morning. Four young lads, ranging in age from 10 to 11 years, plealed guilty to stealing apricots from the jurden of John Simpson, of Ponsonby. They will come up for sentence on Saturday next. Mr. Broham stated that ho had received instructions in all such cases t> apply to have the offenders committed to the Industrial School. A man named George Wright, alias Alfred Holmes, was remanded for a week, on a charge of axing stolen £30, the property of Adam McPierson, of Lyttelton. Another charge of thelarceny of the sum of £S, in which Harriet, Dewson, Annie Dunn, and George Stepheis are alleged to have been implicated, wat adjourned till Friday next. A young man mined James Dawson was committed for trial, on a charge of robbing, by viohnt means, William Foster, of the sum of £1.. According to the statement of Foster, accused and another man met him, at the rices on Boxing Day. Tliey came to town together. About midnight the three went into the vacant allotment near the railway station, when another man came up, and the three knocked Foster down, and too'* the money.

The preliminary programme of the Auckland annual regatta will be found in our advertising columns. There are races for champion trading vessels, trading cutters, coasting vessels, yachts, fishing boats, open sailing boats, amateur champion whaleboat race, men-of war race, Naval Volunteers and Permanent Force cutters, amateur senior gig race, maiden whaleboat race (amateurs), and maiden gig race, &c. The second of the series of meetings in connection with the week of united prayer took place last evening in the Tabernacle school-room. The Rev. T. F. Robertson presided, and the Rev. G. D. Cox delivered an excellent address on " Thanksgiving,' in which he showed that the national, spiritual, and temporal blessings of the past year afforded much cause for gratitude. There was reason to believe that prosperity was once more returning to trie colony. To-night the speaker will be he Rev. E. O. Perry, the subject being, " The Nations and Their Rulers." The Rev. James Chew will preside. - Notwithstanding the rough weather. which somewhat upset the arrangements made, there was a very large attendance last night at the service held in the Helping Hand Mission Tent, erected in Customstreet. The Rev. J. Berry gave a very earnest address, taking as his text the words, " There was no room for Him in the inn," from St* Luke's gospel. Several other gentlemen also spoke. The singing was led by members of the DevonporD Wesleyan Church choir. Service will be conducted again this evening, when addresses will be given by two ladies who are interested in the mission. The Allied Circus opened at Newmarket last night, in the presence of a very fair audience. The acrobatic feats were much admired, and the intelligence displayed by the horses created considerable enthusiasm. Everything went off well, and all the items were well received. The show will open al Otahuhu this evening. The following is the result of the prize tales and acrostic competition for Sharland's Trade Journal New Year's number: - -Talcs: Ist price, £5 ss, "An Awful Alternative," by Miss Grace Whitelaw, Ponsonby; 2nd, £3 3s, "She Walked Backwards," by Mr. C. McAdam, York Place, Dunedin ; 3rd, £1 Is, " A Might of Terror," by Mr. T. H. Penn, Stratford, Taranaki. Acrostic on "Sharland's Trade Journal" ; Prize, £L l s , Mr. A. Scott, Hamilton; special prize of £1 Is, Mr. C. H. Jones. Ponsonby. The tales and acrostics will appear in Sharland's Trade Journal of the 7th inst. Three others who entered acrostics were each awarded a prize consisting of a box of the best perfumery.

Mr. F. D. Rich showed us a memo, from a prominent angler that he had caught twelve trout on Monday, two over three pounds each, in the Waimakariri, on the Thames Valley Company's property. In another page will be found a notice to anglers about fishing in this locality without special permission from representatives of the different, companies. * The Rev. W. J. Mayers and his musical boys from Dr. Barnardo's Homes, will hold a farewell meeting on Tuesday next. They are now in the Waikato, and leave on Thursday, the 14th, for New Plymouth. The public holidays just concluded are to many persons the busiest time, and their recreation has to be deferred till ordinary business is again in full swing. These and others have a good opportunity afforded them of taking a pleasant jaunt, in that the Northern S.S. Co are announcing a series of excursions to the picturesque township of Whangarei, in connection with its annual race meeting. The regular - : packet Wellington, now in splendid order, is to leave on Thursday, and will be followed by the s.s. lona on Friday, returning on Saturday night and Monday respectively. The fares have been reduced, ami return rates for the excursions are quoted at 15s cabin and 10s steerage, a fee within the reach of all seeking pleasur&or health.