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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4167, 29 July 1874, Page 2

The Premier informed Parliament yesterday that orders had been telegraphed to Dunedin to delay the San Prancisco mail steamer Cyplxx-enes one day. The out-going mail, therefore, will not be despatched from Wellington until Friday of the present week. The Tararua, with the Suez mail, will leave port on the same day, and it null be interesting to note, from so fair a start, when the mails respectively reach London. By the opportune arrival of the Albion at the Bluff with the Suez mail, seven and a-half days before contract time, and the detention of the Cyphrenes for a day, as the PostmasterGeneral has determined upon, the merchants ami public generally of Hew Zealand will be able to reply to their letters by way of San Francisco and also via Suez, either by the one route or the other. So far as Wellington is concerned, both mails will be despatched on the same day, and they will thus literally girdle the globe. The Estimates were passed through committee last night with unparalleled celerity, and reported to the House at ten minutes past nine o’clock. They have thus escaped the tx-ying ordeal of the Committee of Supply in two short sittings.

The Ward-Chapman inquiry is not at all diminishing in interest or in the consequences to which it is likely to lead. District Judge Ward is to come up iu the course of the week to Wellington, and it is not unlikely that the High Court of Parliament may be called upon to exercise its rarely-used functions as a Court of Appeal. The committee have given no indication of the general drift even of the influence which the persons, papers, anti records they had power to call fox*, have had upon their nxhxds, but the .arrival of Jxxdge Ward will probably lead to a definite conclusion on one side or the otlxex - . It is likewise px-etty certain that Judge Chapman will come up to Wellington. Leave was given by the House yesterday to the Select Committee to confer with a Select Committee of the Upper House, and an extension of time for bringing up a report was extended for fourteen days more.

The New Zealand University Bill was read a second time in the House last night. Mr. Vogel explained its objects, and expressed a hope that the measure would become law. Legislation was absolutely necessary. By it the reserve for the Otago University would pass into the actual possession of that body, and the other reserves for University purposes would be unreserved. This view of the case did not appear to please the hon. member for Auckland City West, the reserves made for an University, not yet established, in Auckland, being amongst those which would be withdrawn under the Bill. Mr. Vogel stated that the reserves proposed to be unreserved by the Bill were, 30,351 acres in the Province of Auckland, 1300 in Westland, and 10,000 in Southland. There were also 20,000 acres at Tauranga, and 10,000 acres of confiscated land in Taranaki, reserved, but not gazetted, which the Government could deal with. There wore also 2000 in Canterbury. There were no Universities at present in Auckland or Westland. If the House saw its way to utilise the proceeds of the lands in Auckland and Westland for educational purposes, the Government would offer no objection. As it appeared to be the desire of the House that the suggestion should be considered, the Premier postponed the committal of the Bill for a week.

Another effort has been made by the House Committee of the Chamber of Representatives to improve its acoustic properties, the defects of which are so painfully felt. A second network of wives has been drawn over the Chamber, on a level with the floor of the gallery. Whatever effect for good this may have had as regards hou. members, it must be said that no improvement was apparent in the reporters’ gallery. The echoes in the House are so many that accurate hearing of what hou. members say is out of the question, excepting when they raise their voices considerably. What falls from the Clerk of the House, and from the majority of members when they present petitions, ia utterly unintelligible. As the subject of these petitions cannot be obtained by reference to the documents themselves, and .os notices of motion are also inaccessible to the Press, if hon, members desire that the subject matter of petitions they present or motions or questions of which they give notice, they should reach their constituents and the public through the Press, copies should be sent by them to the reporters in the gallery or to the offices these gentlemen represent, and to the Press Agency. The member for Auckland City West (Mr. T. B. Gillies) is troubled with the worm of cantankerousuess. Scarcely a question arises in the House as to which he has not some new view to put forward, for the utter discomfiture of the Ministry, and the decided discomfort of honorable members, who dislike mere wordy war and hypercritical criticism. Last night, in Supply, the worm was vigorous within him, but it unhappily brought him into some grief. Amongst the other votes proposed, was one for a number of steam launches, about the use of which ho was particularly troubled. He was answered by the Premier, that they were intended for postal use, custom house, and police purposes, &0., and would be of great service at times when ordinary boats could not be employed. The hon. member protested that in Auckland there were already numerous steam launches at work, and when they were hired their cost was known. The Premier observed that if the hon, member for Auckland City West was satisfied that a steam-launch was not wanted in that harbor, the Government had no wish to press one upon Auckland; Dunedin, he thought, could very well employ two of them. An hon. member, who is also Secretary and Treasurer of the Province of Nelson, suggested that the launch intended for Auckland might very well be spared for Nelson, where one was much wanted. The representative of Auckland City West smiled mildly over these suggestions ; but did not quite enjoy the turning of tho tables upon himself. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court, yesterday, three drunkards were dealt with. AH tho civil business on the books was settled without coming before the Court.

The Hon. Donald McLean was in his place in the House of Representatives last night, for the first time this session. He presented a variety of papers, in the course of the sitting, on Native affairs. A Bill was introduced in the House yesterday by Mr. Burmy, and read a first time, for the extension of the time within which the right given under Volunteers’ scrip might he exercised. Number five of Hansard was issued yesterday. It brings the proceedings of the House of Representatives down to Thursday last, inclusive, and contains part of the debate in the Legislative Council on Friday last. The Inspection of Machinery Bill passed the Legislative Council yesterday, and was sent to the House of Representatives, where it was read a first time, and the second reading made an order for Friday. Leave was given yesterday in the House, to the Minister for Public Works, to introduce Bills, which were read a first time, respecting the Oamaru Harbor Board land, and to make better provision- relating to the construction of -works below high-water mark. Last night Mr. Vogel laid on the table of the House further correspondence with the Agent-General on immigration matters, which was ordered to be printed ; and also the balance-sheet of the Public Trust Fund, with a letter from the Auditor-General attached. Our telegrams to-day contain a summary of the contents of a letter written by Mrs. Howard to a friend in Dunedin, and published in the Daily Times. Unfortunately the telegram sent is in several parts unintelligible, and we only publish such sentences as seem to have some definite meaning. A rather important error, it appears, has been discovered in a paper laid before Parliament. It occurs in a report on the Sales of Waste Lands in the Province of Otago, in which the average price of the land sold is set down at £l7 11s. per acre in place of 17s. lid. The mistake was mentioned by the Speaker to the House yesterday. With reference to the dismissal of Pilot Anderson, the Superintendent has intimated to that officer that a Board of Inquiry will investigate the charges on which the notice of his dismissal was based. It is understood that this intimation is consequent on a request made by Mr. Anderson that the charges against him might be made known and fully ventilated. The Provincial Government lately called for tenders for the erection of twelve cottages for immigrants, to be erected on a town acre reserve on Adelaide Road. These were opened yesterday, when it was found that the lowest was £270 per cottage. This sum so far exceeds the ideas of the authorities of the Province on the subject, that it is probable the work will not be proceeded with. The English Opera Company will have some novelties to present when they return to Wellington. We learn that Mr. Allen has arranged with Mr. John Smith, who is the Australasian agent for Mr. H. B. Farney, to bring out that composer’s new opera bovffe, entitled “Nemesis,” which ran for over three hundred nights at the Strand Theatre, London.

A paragraph recently went the round of the Press, extracted from a Melbourne journal, to the effect that Otago had resorted to the plan of providing for its lunatics by exporting them to Melbourne. We are requested by Mr. Macandrew to state that he has inquired into the matter, and that there is no truth in the allegations advanced against the Provincial authorities of Otago.

.An inquiry was held yesterday before Mr. McKellar, collector of Customs, and Captain Edwin, nautical assessor, respecting the damage sustained by the Frowning Beauty, on the morning of the 22nd inst., when her cable parted, and she nearly went ashore. The Captain’s evidence, which was corroborated by that of others belonging to the vessel, has already been given in substance. During his examination the Captain stated that if the main-mast had not been cut away at the time it was, the barque must have become a total wreck. It is a strange fact that although signals of distress were shown by the jeopardised vessel from nine o’clock in the morning, no assistance was rendered, or apparently even attempted, until the steamer Wellington put out to her at 1 p.m. A deputation of an important nature is about to be made to the Minister of Public Works. In accordance with the spirit of the question which he put to the House the other day, Mr. Fyke is taking energetic action to have the extraordinary obstructive order of the Southland Laud Board obviated. The deputation, which will mainly consist of the Southland members, will urge on the Government that the railway up to Kingston on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, instead of being delayed, should be made for the very reason alleged for the delay, namely, that by running the line light on sleepers in abundance can be obtained from the Lake districts without any obstructive orders of Land Boards. It is expected the department will see the wisdom of the suggestion, and carry on the work.

Some conversation took place in Committee of Supply yesterday as to the possibility of intimation being sent by telegraph from one station to another to warn miners of heavy floods flowing down rivers in time to allow those engaged upon their banks to remove their machinery and escape to higher ground. Mr. Vogel expressed an opinion that telegraph officers should be transmitters only and not collectors of news. Mr. Reynolds, however, undertook to see what could be done in the matter. The Clutha and Shotover were especially alluded to as rivers in which loss of life had occurred by floods of which warning could have been given.

The Grif Company were last night favored by the prevalence of fair weather, and the consequent presence of a large audience, distributed over all parts of the house. “Grif" was again represented, and with even more success than on Monday evening, highly successful as it then was. The advantage of the Company having repeatedly produced it elsewhere was obvious in the evenness with which it was played and in the absence of any hitches such as arise through imperfect rehearsal. Each member of the Company had a perfect knowledge of the text of his or her part, and acted also with discriminating appreciation of the character represented. Supplemented by good scenery, and several effective tableaux, these features made the play as attractive as the dramatist could well desire to see it in the Colonies, and it should have as long a run in the Theatre Royal as any play which has yet been put upon its stage. Ms the juvenile hero of the play, Miss Rosa Towers contributes much to its success, and the other ladies of the company make as much of the parts allotted to them as it is possible to do—Bliss Jessie Raymond, as Alice, Miss Howard, as the barmaid of the diggers’ dancing saloon, and Mrs. Trank Towers, as tbc wife of the typical digger, Mr. Nuttal. Mr. Burford, as Richard Handheld, and Mr, J. P. Hydes, as Mr. Zachariah Blemish, are both well suited with characters, or suit themselves to the characters with the skill of accustomed actors, and the same may be said of others who sustain even the more subordinate parts. The (Rama will be repeated this evening, and as the story itself is thoroughly colonial, all who have not yet read it in the original ■ should endeavor to, at least, see it as put upon the stage, while those who have read the book will not regret spending a couple of hours in realising how successfully it has been dramatised. The adjourned debate on the second reading of the Qualification of Electors Bill was resumed in the House soon after nine o'clock last night by Mr. Andrews, who moved ns an amendment that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. The Bill was warmly supported by Mr. Reader Wood, who held that the time had come when the subject should he treated thoroughly, nud from a liberal point of view. He thought it was too late, short though they expected the session to be, for the Government to bring in a Bill such as that which Mr. Gisborne introduced in 1872, but which had not since been heard of. After some discussion, the adjournment of the debate to Friday was moved about midnight by Mr, Stafford, and agreed to.

Another cargo of Greymouth coal has been introduced into this market by the arrival of the schooner Mary Ogilvie. She brings a hundred tons of this superior coal, which are advertised to be sold to-day by Mr. Venncll, at the breastwork, in front of Messrs.. Mclntyre and Co.’s stores. The miners of the Colony are distributed as follows—as showm by an appendix to the annual report on the Goldfields :—Otago, 7222 ; Westland, 412-1 ; Nelson, 4229 ; Auckland,. 2182 ; and Marlborough, 85. The European miners number 14,039 ; and the Chinese 4103. Sixty-five steam-engines are employed in winding and crushing at quartz mines. They have an aggregate of 1979 horse-power ; while only two engines are at work in alluvial mines. An extensive land sale was held yesterday by Mr. R. J. Duncan, at his auction rooms, when some valuable town allotments in Palmerston, Fitzherbert, Mauawatu, and Wellington were submitted to competition. The attendance was large, the bidding spirited, and the prices realised satisfactory. Several lots -were, however, withdrawn at various prices. One acre in Mount Street, Wellington, brought £BS. In town acres. No. 985, with a double frontage, was knocked down for £l5O ; No. 955, with some advantages, fetched £llO ; Nos. 953, 32, and 713 were withdrawn ; No. 111, an excellent building site, realised £650 ; Nos. 394, 395, and 396, three acres with dwelling-houses thereon adjoining each other, offered in one block, were withdrawn at £BSO ; No. 844 was also withdrawn at £45. Numerous other allotments were sold, and a few withdrawn. A well-attended meeting of persons interested in the formation of a Co-operative Cattle Dealing and Butchering Society (Limited), was held in the side room of the Odd Fellows’ Hall last night, Mr. Heywood in the chair. It was unanimously resolved that the formation of such a society was highly desirable, and should be effected. The secretary pro tem, Mr. Moody, then submitted a report showing that notices of application for shares to the extent of 917 had been received, and promises made to apply for many more as soon as the committee was formed. A provisional committee was then elected, consisting of Messrs. Heywood, John Smith, Astill, Sidey, Valentine, Worth, Toohill, Johns, and Moody, and it was decided that they should arrange for the immediate canvass of the City, and other preliminary matters ; progress to be reported at a meeting which it was resolved should be held a fortnight hence, when permanent office-bearers and trustees should be elected. It was resolved that the Bank of the society should be the new Colonial one, and that an account should be temporarily opened at the Union Bank in the name of the society, two of the committee having power to draw on the funds. Several shares were applied for in the room, and the meeting, with the usual vote of thanks to the chairman, then broke up. The discussion of the Estimates in Committee of the House last night appeared to have considerable interest for “strangers”— after dinner. The ladies’ gallery was well filled, a large proportion of whom were as fearully and wonderfully industrious with the crochet needle or that of the white seam as the ladies of Wellington who affect the house of politics usually are when they honor the Chamber with their presence. The public gallery was also full, but the “lords” showed their perfect absence of interest in the subject by sending not a solitary member into the Council gallery. It was anticipated that the only “ battle of the estimates” for the session would be over the figures of the Native Department, but the Hon. the Native Minister found very little difficulty indeed in marching his estimates through the House as merrily as the Men of Harlech marched. As to the volunteers, the Minister stated his determination was to make the volunteers effective or disband them altogether. A report was yesterday laid on the table of the House of Representatives from the Committee on Native Affairs as to certain claims submitted to the House and referred to the committee. The prayer of one of these was refused, but the name of the petitioner could not be heard in the gallery. In another case it was reported that no new facts had been submitted, and that therefore the committee could not recommend a reconsideration of the case. It was reported, not long ago, that in all probability there were some shipwrecked people on one of the islands in Bass’ Straits. The report has been confirmed by the master of the barque Palace, which lately arrived in Hobson’s Bay from Wangaroa, N.Z. He has stated to the shipping reporters of Melbourne that when, passing the Outer Sisters’ Island, at 6 p.m. on the 12th inat., he saw a light on shore, but could not make out distinctly what it was. The weather at the time was threatening, and the barque had to keep away from the island. Captain Duncan thinks that the light must have been made by some castaways from some wrecked vessel. The witnesses who gave evidence in favor of “the claimant” in the Tichborne . case, would seem to have been an extraordinary lot. Jean Luie and “Captain Brown” will be remembered, and are now paying the penalty of their connection with the case, and we see from the last home newspapers that one of the Australian witnesses, named William Hopwood —whose evidence was strong, if correct— lies been discovered to have had a penchant for bigamy. He was remanded at the Stockfcrt County Police Court on the 27th May, charge of having married Jemima Clarkson, at Cheadle Village Church, while his wife, Annie Bradley, was alive in Stockfort. Mi's. Jury, the “claimant’s” sister, presuming him to have been Orton, also charges Hopwood with marriage with her.