Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4248, 31 October 1874, Page 2

Wo are requested to state that Lady Ferguason will be at home. to receive visitors this afternoon, should the weather be fine. The Provincial Government have resolved to sell the foreshore at Thomdon, which is about to be reclaimed. It is proposed to dispose of it in one lot, under the hammer of Mr. R. .1. Duncan, on the 21st of December, and plans and conditions of sale will be ready for inspection by the 18th of November. The Alhambra from Melbourne and the Macgregor from Sydney, both having sailed on the same day—the 24th instant—arrived almost at the same time yesterday afternoon, the one at Hokitika, and the other at Auckland. The Macgregor would sail again with the San Francisco mails at midnight. The Alhambra will reach Nelson in the course of the afternoon, but unless she enters and leaves that port on the same tide, she cannot be in Wellington before Sunday night, or Monday. Last night a meeting was held in the offices of Messrs Bethune and Hunter, of members of the Church, to receive the report of the subcommittee on the new Te Aro Church. There were about twenty gentlemen present, including His Excellency the Governor. The Bishop of Wellington was in the chair. The sub-com-mittee recommended for adoption the plan of Mr. Tringham, out of the four that had been submitted. After some discussion, it was resolved that all the plans received be thrown open for the inspection of the subscribers, and that a meeting bo held on Tuesday evening next, at eight o’clock, in the same place, to further consider the matter. A number of The Douglas immigrants, consisting principally of single men and women, were landed yesterday and housed in the barracks. The remainder of the passengers will be brought over to-day or Monday. It is announced through the Gazette, under date the 22nd inst., that “ His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to appoint Walter Kennaway, Esq., to be Secretary to the Agent-General’s Department in London.” The French transport sliip La Vire flow the blue peter at the mast-head yesterday afternoon, and sailed for the South about sundown.

The quorum at all Licensing Courts has been fixed by His Excellency at three, including the chairman. It is intimated in the Gazette, of Thursday, that His Excellency has disbanded the Hutt Rifle Volunteers and the Wakefield Rifle Volunteer Cadets, and the commissions of the officers of these bodies therefore lapse. By a telegram received from Port Chalmers, •we learn that a slight shock of an earthquake was felt there yesterday, at 5.48 p.m. The barometer had been falling during the day, and there was every appearance of a change of weather. The fine little steamer Napier is announced to make a pleasure trip round the harbor this afternoon, leaving the wharf about two o’clock and returning about half-past four. Should the weather be pleasant, the sail will be very enjoyable. At Pahautanui, a few days ago, a mare, the property of Mr. David Galloway, dropped a nice pair of foals, a colt and a filly. Both are living and likely to live. Twin foals are sometimes dropped, but they very rarely survive their birth. We learn from Captain Scott, of the p.s Lyttelton, that the weather in the district of Elaxboume (Marlborough) has been exceptionally fine for the shearing season. About forty thousand sheep have already been shorn, leaving twenty thousand to undergo that operation, on the station of Messrs. Clifford and Weld. The following natives are gazetted as assessors under the Native Land Act, 1873 :—The Hon. Wi Tako Ngatata, Wellington ; Ihaia Porutu, Wellington ; Raniera Te Iho, Turanga, Wairarapa; Ihaia Whakamairu, Masterton, Wairarapa ; Manihera Te Rangitakaiwaho, Greytown, Wairarapa : Hemi Te Miha, Turanga, Wairarapa; Hoani Meihana Te Rangiotu, Manawatu ; Major Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, Wanganui; Paori Kuramate, Waipakura, Wanganui ; and Hoani Taipua, Otaki. Have Wellington rowing men forgotten to inaugurate the boating season by the customary procession of boats, or is it intended to allow it to drop ? In previous years the event took place during October, but, no doubt, the unseasonable weather which has lately prevailed has made it impossible to keep to time this year. The days have now drawn out sufficiently to enable the manly exercise of rowing to be indulged in either morning or evening, which, no doubt, would be fully taken advantage of were it to receive the fillip which the opening procession always gives it. And, whilst on aquatic matters, boating men may be reminded that the holding of the Interprovincial Regatta of 1875, on the Wanganui River, was ventilated at the regatta dinner to the Wellington visitoi'a at Wanganui, and subsequently at the regatta dinner at Wellington. It appeared, on those occasions, to meet with more than passing favor from every person who spoke on the subject. Whilst steps are being taken by the committees of boating clubs to settle the opening day of the ensuing season (for we trust it will be duly opened), the Interprovincial Regatta question could be brought forward, and thus a start made in the matter. If it is decided that the contest for the blue ribbon of the colony shall take place on the Wanganui, it might he suggested as a condition that only one boat be allowed each competing province, for the room required by the number of boats that would probably enter, unless some such restriction were made, would be more than twice that available. On the other hand, if the race comes off in Wellington, and with a N.W. wind, the course rowed over by the Dolly Varden and Stella, when those boats raced, would afford room for all comers. .We trust the aquatic event of 1875 will be marked by an absence of petty bickerings and local jealousies before the day of the race, and fouls whilst being rowed, which have unmistakably characterised the event in former years.

During last summer there was issued the prospectus of a company for the establishment of sea-baths at the Thorndon end of the city. But somehow the matter was allowed to lapse. The addition to the population in the meantime has been sufficient, if fear of want of patronage were the cause of failure, to warrant another attempt being made, and with a good prospect of success. If steps were taken immediately, and a little energy displayed, baths coidd be erected in time to be available for at least the latter half of the bathing season. The benefits derivable from sea-bathing are so well understood .that it is quite unnecessary to dilate upon them. At Te Aro, it is satisfactory to notice, the proprietor of the already-established baths there is malting extensive repairs and alterations, no doubt with the prospect of a busy and profitable summer. The “Intelligent Vagrant” in the Bruce Herald has the following :—ln some paper or another it is mentioned that Ml-. T. B, Gillies is about to purchase the Governor’s yacht Blanche, and make an extensive cruise among the South Sea Islands in her. I believe Mr. T. B. Gillies is not unknown in Otago, but I write of him as regards Auckland, and I believe the fervent effectual prayer of most men there will be that he may stay cruisingin the Pacific for the rest of his life. Because, should he do so, his mode of regarding every public subject merely as a matter concerning his personal dislike to Mr. Vogel, cannot make much difference to New Zealand. Maybe Mr. Gillies is going away in disgust at his nonappreciation by the colony. If so, he has excellent reasons for departure.

The London correspondent of the Scotsman says that “ three members of the Society of Friends —Messrs. William Beck, of, London ; Joseph John Dymond, of Bradford; and Alfred Wright, of Hull—are about to leave England on a religious mission to Australia. They will go as representatives of the English Society of Friends. Their principal object will be to promote the friendly adjustment of points of doctrine upon which their Australian brethren are at variance, but as was the case with James Backhouse, G. W. Walker, Stephen Grellet, and others of their predecessors, in the same path of travel, they will probably interest themselves in the various social and moral questions of interest to the community generally.”