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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4242, 24 October 1874, Page 2

The Government have received by the Tararua a telegram from the Agent-General under date London, 7th October, which advises that the following emii{rant ships have sailed during September for New Zealand :—Cospatriclc, with 420 souls, for Auckland ; Geraldine Paget, with 390, for Canterbury; Clarence, with 340, for Napier ; Carnatic, with 290, for Marlborough ; Crusader, with 370, for Canterbury ; Dilharree, with 370, for Auckland ; Margaret Galbraith, with 130, for Otago ; and Nelson, with 320, for Otago. It will be noticed that none were despatched for Wellington in the past month. The s.s. Tararua, Captain Clarke, arrived last night from Melbourne with the Suez mail. She brings dates from London to the 4th September via Brindisi. This mail was not due here until the 31st instant, and is thus brought to port eight days before it was due. The mails were delivered promptly and sorted rapidly, and the public have an opportunity, therefore, of replying to Melbourne letters by the Albion, which sails at daylight to-morrow for Melbourne by the West Coast, or by the Suez mail, per Tararua, the letter bags for which will close this evening. It will be observed, however, that letters intended to go by this route must be specially marked "via Suez." They have also ample time to reply by the San Francisco Toute, as the Wellington does not sail with the mail until early on Tuesday afternoon, and will reach Onehunga in time to send the mails on to the Macgregor, which is expected to be in Auckland on the 29th, aud to sail thence on the 30th for Honolulu and San Francisco. We understand that the Lima will sail at nine o'clock this morning for Napier and the West Coast. Sir Donald McLean, the Hon. Wi Katene, Colonel St. John, and other gentlemen connected with the Government will proceed by her. A despatch from Lord Carnarvon, dated Downing Street, 13th August, to His Excellency the Governor, informs him that " Her Majesty has been pleased, on my recommendation, to give directions for your appointment to the dignity of a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George." After a lengthened hearing, occupying two days, at the Divorce Sittings of the Supreme Court, the action Dunn v. Dunn, for a judicial separation on the grounds of cruelty, was concluded at half-past six yesterday evening. The substance of the issues which the jury had to find upon were whether the respondent, James Dunn, had been guilty of acts of cruelty towards the petitioner, his wife; and, if so, whether she, l»«-.-i.iui;.in < -»---- -*-f.w. urueity. TAftor a short retirement the jury returned affirmative answers on each point mentioned, thus furnishing the grounds for the next step, which is a motion before the Court for a decree granting the judicial separation sought by the petitioner, this proceeding being merely a matter of form following the result of the late trial. The Attorney-General must have felt, from the time that the petitioner gave her evidence, that his case was a weak one, for no one who heard the simple and straightforward story, with an entire absence of any appearance of exaggeration or colouring, in which the miserable and unhappy experiences of the petitioner's unfortunate married life were narrated, could doubt the truth of her evidence. The difficulties of the learned counsel for the respondent were also much increased by the manner in which his client gave his evidence, or rather had it dragged from him. His Honor made the remark that the witness was about the most difficult he ever followed. Mr. Travers, in his reply to the address of the Attorney-General, made a very telling and well considered speech. In speaking of the respondent, the terms he used were most considerate. He stated his belief that his conduct had been caused by a disordered imagination, labouring under very great delusions as to family relations and occurrences. The verdict of the jury appeared to have been anticipated and concurred in by the public. His Excellency has accepted the resignation of Captain C. McKirdy, of the Wellington Scottish Bifle Volunteer Corps; aud of Honorary Lieutenant H. Pearce, of the Sir George Grey Rifle Volunteer Corps. The Governor has also been pleased to disband the Wairarapa and the Greytown Cavalry Volunteers, the Taita Rifle Volunteers, the Porirua Rifle Volunteers, and the Sir George Grey Rifle Volunteers ; and to appoint Captain Gilbert Mair (New Zealand Militia) to be Sub-Inspector, Ist class; and Lieutenp.nt Herbert Fitzwilliam (New Zealand Militia) to be Sub-Inspector, 2nd class. His Excellency has also appointed J. D. Baird, Esq., to take and lay off roads through native lands in the Wairarapa district; and George Noyes Baggett, Esq., to be a clerk in the Confiscated Lands Department. A total eclipse of the moon, visible in New Zealand, takes place to-day. Its periods are as follows :—First contact with the penumbra, 4.15 p.m.; first contact with the shadow, 5.12 p.m.; beginning of total phase, 6.31 p.m.; middle of the eclipse, 6.47 p.m. ; end of total phaße, 7.3 j>.m.; last contact with the shadow, 8.22 p.m. In this eclipse the beginning of the total phase will occur about the moon's rising. Magnitude of the eclipse (moon's diameter 1), 1-049.

We regret to have to announce that the very severe accident lately sustained by Mr. F. Foster, chemist, Manners-street, terminated fatally at an early hour yesterday. He bore the dreadful shook, by which his leg was all but torn from his body, through a collision on the Ngahauranga-road, with great bravery, and hope for a time was entertained that he would recover. The hope, however, was delusive. After a time unfavorable symptoms set in, these gradually and then rapidly incveaaed in malignity, with fatal result. Mr. Foster will be much regretted, and his untimely and cruel fate lamented.

lleports from the quarantine station yesterday were to the effect that the health of the children was rapidly improving, and that the adults were in remarkably good spirits, and pleased with the glimpse of the country they had obtained. It is anticipated that they -will be brought over from the island in about a week. They have presented to Captain Watson, and to the doctor, complimentary addresses of tho most handsome kind, for the treatment they received at their hands during tho voyage. It is anticipated that tho ship will be brought over to the wharf on Tuesday. Letters of naturalization have been issued by His Excellency to Ferdinand Holm, master mariner, and William Christian Smith, carpenter, both of Wellington. Captain Samson, of tho barque Edwin Bassett, has kindly favored us with late Newcastle files. ' " ■ ■ ■

It is stated, apparently on good authority, that District Judge Gray, of Holdtika, has retired from the bench. It is rumored on the West Coast that his Honor Judge Harvey mil be Mr. Gray's successor. An interesting ceremony took place yesterday at the Government Printing Office on the occasion of two of the members of that establishment leaving Wellington. Mr. Didsbury, the Government Printer, on behalf of the employes, and in their presence, presented Messrs. Gilbert and James Carson, who have become proprietors of the Wanganui Chronicle, with a valuable collection of books, and in doing so wished them every success in their new undertaking. In the obituary notices we publish this morning appears, we regret to say, the name of Mr. Abraham Harris, of the Taita. He arrived in Wellington in the ship Bolton, one of the first of the New Zealand Company's vessels, and he has resided at the Taita ever since. During the Maori war he was driven off his land, like the other settlers resident in that locality, but he returned when peace was restored. He leaves a large family of children and grandchildren to mourn his loss.

The latest story of " servantgirlism" is the following, from the Newcastle Pilot : —"A seeker after domestic ' service' applied at a certain store in this city yesterday, and asked for a recommendation for a ' place.' She was informed that there would be no difficulty about this, as the demand for servant girls in Newcastle exceeded the supply. ' Ah, but,' replied the domestic, ' there may be a difficulty about it, because, you see, I have to attend dancingschool at the City Hall two nights a week, and shall require every Sunday off !' "

The writer of the letter in defence of the Wellington Volunteer Artillery, which we published on Wednesday, desires it to be stated in justice to himself that when he copied from a letter in the Lyttdton Times, of the 10th inst., in defence of the instructor of the corps, he was unaware that Mr. Gray, of the Christchurch Artillery, had borrowed his arguments from a Wellington journal. He adds that he consulted many members of the battery, and that they were as uninformed on the subject as himself. We observe from the English journals that Mr. Cairns, the newly-appointed GovernorGeneral of Queensland, was at one time Post-master-General of Ceylon, where he was very popular. We also notice that in the obituary for the month are recorded the names of the Baroness Bemers, through a fall from her horse ; Sydney Dobell, the poet ; the son and heir of Lord Bellew, by suicide ; Mr. Betty, an actor, at one time known as " the young Roscius ;" Kenny Meadows, the artist; and J. H. Foley, the well-known sculptor.