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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4230, 10 October 1874, Page 2

We are happy to learn that a requisition, signed by a very large number of the more influential inhabitants of the City, has been presented to George Hunter, Esq., M.H.K., respectfully requesting him to allow himself to be nominated for the Mayoralty, in the election, by the voices of the whole body of the electors, which is shortly to take place. Mr. Hunter has not yet given his consent. He questions whether there arc not other citizens to whom the request should not first have been preferred. While we admire the delicacy of the feeling which prompts this hesitation, however, we cannot but re-echo the general wish that Mr. Hunter null consent to be nominated. The feeling of the public appears to be that if Mr. Hunter consents there will be no opposition, while the nomination of almost any other prominent citizen would provoke a contest. Mr. Hunter has been conuected prominently with the progress of Wellington from the existence of the City itself, and has earned a high reputation in commercial and political, as well as social circles. Ho has been prominent and liberal in every movement that has had for its object the advancement of Wellington, the good of its citizens, and the reputation of the City and port. These are sufficient reasons why he should be selected for the office it is proposed to confer upon him ; while his acceptance would give a moat perfect guarantee to the citizens that the work the Mayor has to do—and it is great, if justice is to be done to Wellington—would be in competent hands. It will not be forgotten, also, that the same office was twice held , by the voices of the people, in the old days, by Mr. Hunter’s father, who discharged the duties of Mayor of Wellington with great satisfaction to the lieges of those days. Time has been more than kept by the s.s. Mikado, Captain Moore, which arrived at Auckland about midnight on the Bth instant, with the San Francisco mail, which was not due there until the following day. The Mikado passed the Golden Gate on the 13th of September, her proper day of sailing, and gained a day on the run to Honolulu. It was anticipated that she would sail thence direct to Auckland, but, for reasons which are not difficult to understand, she followed the route laid down in the contract, and lost a day between Honolulu and Kandavau. The Mikado has brought an unusually large mail —a proof that with every succeeding month the value of this line was becoming more and more understood in England, and also in America. The ship, it is stated, makes this voyage on the account of her owner, which we take as another hopeful sign, seeing that she would not have been so sent unless the owner was satisfied that her voyage would yield a legitimate profit. As the Mikado and the Macgregor belong to the same person—Mr. Donald Macgregor, Provost of Leith (Scotland), it may be inferred that those two vessels, like the Cyphrenes (which is owned in Dundee), will be at the service of the Government of New South Wales, or the A.S.N. Company of Sydney, if they are wanted to carry on the mail service between Sydney and Sau Francisco. What may be the interest of New Zealand in the matter we may probably learn on the an-ival of the next steamer from Melbourne or Sydney. The Mikado resumed her voyage to Sydney yesterday afternoon. The Luna, which awaited at Onehunga the arrival of the Mikado, sailed yesterday with the mails for Wellington and the South, and may be expected here early on Sunday. The ship Cartvale was off the Heads all yesterday afternoon. The wind, however, was adverse and light, and the ship missed the tide, Pilot Holmes having previously boarded the schooner Nightingale, which he brought into port. The Cartvale will probably get in at an early hour this morning. She brings 418 immigrants, who fortunately are “ all well.”

It has been stated during the last few days, and, we regret to learu, with too much truth, that the Hon. W. B. Rhodes has for some time been confined to his bed, and is now in such a state of health as to necessitate constant attendance and tho greatest care, while but little hope is entertained that recovery is probable. So much has been said as to the shortcomings of the San Francisco mail steamers that it may be well, now that the service has come to a close for a time, to look at what the ships have actually done. Nine complete round voyages have been made. Of the outward passages it is sufficient to say that the vessels invariably started to time from Sydney, and, with one exception, from New Zealand ; and that the delays in the delivery of the mail in England arose almost invariably from faults on the American railways, or at New York or Boston, or by being placed on board slow vessels for the Atlantic passage. The time allowed under the contract for the run from San Francisco to Auckland was 645 hours, and it was only twice exceeded —on both occasions by the Macgregor, By the City of Melbourne the run was accomplished in 581 hours ; the Tartar, 610 ; and the Mikado, on her last run, in 614 hours. Enough has been done to show that the time-table can be kept, even with boats not built for tho service. How much more easy it will be to observe it when the new steamers are at work.

Dr. Diver lias been, unanimously elected Captain of the Scottish Volunteers of the City. There were no tenders received yesterday for the purchase of the whole or any portion of the Corporation debentures, to be issued under the authority of the Waterworks Amendment Act. There was not much business done at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday. A woman named Elizabeth Forrester was committed to the Lunatic Asylum, and another woman was sent to gaol for a month on a charge of vagrancy. Two drunkards were dealt with. There were no judgments given in the civil business.

Mr. Justice Johnston was engaged yesterday in taking evidence in the Strathnaver case upon the side of the claimant for salvage. The examinations were conducted in private before His Honor in Chambers. The officers of the Court, and the proctors or attorneys on either side, only were present.

Captain Holm, of the Anne and Jane, we are informed, has received the appointment of second pilot to this port. Captain Holm will commence his duties at once, but will not receive either his formal appointment or certificate in regard to the examination which he has passed until he obtains letters of naturalisation as a British subject. Acting for the Society of Wellington Painters, Mr. S. Dixon has presented to the surgeon of the Provincial, hospital the sum of £3 155., towards a fund for the establishment of a library in the proposed new building. The amount is a welcome addition to. the handsome donation by the Wellington Christy, Minstrels last year, which is still in the bank, being kept for the purpose intended ; and the excellent example is one which might be followed by other societies and clubs to the advantage of the institution, and to the credit of the donors.

A sale of land, of rather more than usual interest, took place at Mr. Duncan’s rooms yesterday. There was a large attendance, and the competition for the country lots in particular, showed that the “earth hunger” has extended to the settlers in New Zealand. The lands in Manawatu district were all, or nearly all, disposed of at good prices. There was less demand for the suburban or town land; hut allotments in Kent Terrace were disposed of at £3 per foot, and one acre in Oriental Bay was bought at £260 by Mr. Irwin. The deposit of night-soil difficulty cropped up again at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday, when James Turner, a nightman, was summoned by Captain Halliday for a breach of the Harbor and Quarantine Regulations, and was fined 405., and costs, 21s. 6d. Whether it is the nightman’s fault or that of the Inspector of Nuisances that night-soil is now deposited in the harbor is not plain, but it is certain that this objectionable practice must be put a stop to, and with that view the City Council have arranged for the use of a piece of land near Mr. Sutherland’s farm for twelve mouths, aud the Inspector of Nuisances has received instructions to have the place prepared ; so there is no excuse now for the harbor being used. The proprietor of the Irish Times newspaper—now a leading journal of Dublin—has made a remarkable proposition to the Corporation of that city. The purification of the River Liffey, which flows through the capital, has been for some time under discussion, and a plan bad been proposed by the LordLieutenant, but the Corporation—like others that might be named —have been very dilatory in approaching the actual carrying out of the work. In this state of things, the proprietor of the Irish Times has stepped in, and offered to carry out a modification of the plan at his own expense, and at once to set a thousand men to work! Well done the Irish Times.

It is not all “ rosy,” we regret to find, with some of those who have left England lately for the United States. We have on a previous occasion referred to the distress which prevailed throughout the winter in New York, and though with the spring the “ fashionable season” set in with its usual severity, occasional paragraphs find their way into the Metropolitan journals which show that there still exists great poverty in the heart of the commercial capital of the United States. The following, from the Herald, is only one of many ;—“A poor emigrant writes to us from Williamsburg. He says he is starving ; he has had but eight weeks work in nine months, and now cannot support his family. He has applied to the British Consulate without avail, and with the same result to the Irish Emigrant Society. He is anxious to return home.” The incidents of the death of Marshal Concha, General of the Spanish Republican forces, are thus narrated by the New Yorh Herald :—“ Concha received in the heat of the battle a wound in the face, and dismounted to have the bleeding stopped. He had put his hand on the saddle and lifted his foot into the stirrup to remount, when he received his fatal wound, the ball piercing him through and through. He spoke only once afterwards, saying, ‘ Killed in a guerilla wax - .’ ” The New Yorh Herald has a joke over the “Irish grievance,” and turns the tables on those “ Home Rulers” who ask for nothing more than “ Ireland for the Irish.” Our American contemporax-y says ; —“The Irish have annexed Wales—and the member for Cai-diS who opposed the Home Rule motion will find out how numerous they are in his district. The Irish ax - e excellent hands at being numerous, and if they would invade England in their might, and settle themselves at px-operly chosen points, they could control all the elections in the next generation.” AUCKLAND. A number of English trout, obtained in Auckland, have been liberated by Mi - . Charles King in the Wairau, and in some other streams running through his own property in Coromandel.

Haora Tipa, the great chief of the Ngatipaoa, says the Thames Advertiser of the 26th September, died on Thursday night at Whakatiwai. The old man was a great friend of the Government, and has during his time rendered most valuable assistance to them, in fact he held the same position in Hauraki for faithfulness and adherence to the Government as Tamata Waka Nene did at the Bay of Islands. He was a very old man, nearly seventy years. He was taken very ill shortly after the great feast at Whakatuon, at which he was the principal actor ; in fact, it is supposed that the excitement, &c., caused by the part he took at the meeting, coupled with his great age, has been the cause of hurrying him to his grave. A boat came over with a black flag at the gaff. It was seen from Shortlaud some time before it arrived, and the sight of the black flag told plainly enough the Natives who were watching, that poor old Haora had passed away. The Government will send a coffin, and, in all probability, will further interest itself in paying honor to this old Native chief, who was ever kind, friendly, and hospitable to Europeans, and a firm ally of the Government. The Natives here are very much affected. There will be a great uhanga, or crying, held on the other side next week.

Some of the principal chiefs among the Arawas, such as William Marsh and Fox, says the Southern Cross, have become alarmed at the large purchases made by the Government in their country, and have vigorously protested against their continuance. During last session the two chiefs mentioned went to Wellington on the business. It would appear from a telegram from Tauranga that the Government have interfered with the operations of the Land Purchase Commissioners, but to what extent we are not aware. The bulk of the Arawas appear to have been anxious to sell, but a few of the chiefs, like Te Hira and Tukukino at Ohinemuri, oppose, and if the Government favor them, an immense district of country will be closed up against European settlement, for no one knows how long. The argument in the case of Williamson v. The Auckland Improvement Commissioners was resumed before His Honor the Chief Justice on Saturday, and lasted the greater part of the day. Mr. McCormick was heard at length on behalf of the defendants. Mr. Gillies was also heard in reply. His Honor deferred his judgment until he should have time to consider the language of the various sections and looked into the authorities.