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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4767, 3 July 1876, Page 2

The first - of the Parliamentary dinners was given by his Excellency the Governor on Saturday evening. A number of members of both Houses were present, but Sir George Grey was not amongst the number. The number of persons who arrived at the port of Wellington by sea during the past week was 236. Of these 139 came from ports in the North Island, 68 from the South Island, and 29 from Australia. * Strong easterly gales were prevalent from Castle Point to Auckland on Saturday, and a heavy sea was running on the coast. The weather in the Middle Island has been generally fine, but the glass commenced to fall about 7 p.m. on Saturday, and the appearance of the weather yesterday evening was windy in the South. During the past week nine sailing vessels arrived in our harbor, with a tonnage of 601 tons. The registered tonnage of the 12 steamers which arrived was 6963 tons. Only five small sailing vessels, the total tonnage" of which combined amounted to 197 tons, cleared.out at the Customs last week. On the other hand, 13 steamers cleared out during the same period, with a registered tonnage of not less than 6963 toils. The heavy rains have caused a few small slips on the Hutt-road, and in one place a large hole has been caused. A couple of horsemen were proceeding towards the Hutt last night, when one of the horses put its foot into this hole and fell. The horse’s leg was broken, and the rider was cut about a good deal. Mr. Bates, with the remainder of the dramatic company for the new season, arrived by the Hawea yesterday, and the theatre will be opened to-night. Am advertisement in another column gives the names of the ladies and gentlemen who have been engaged ; and from a knowledge of the number and character of the pieces included in the company’s repertoire, we have every reason to believe the new season will be a most successful one. The opening drama, “Elizabeth,” is so well known that it is scarcely necessary to do more than mention it, for Mrs. Bates’s able rendering of the title role is one of the dramatic treats which Wellington theatregoers rarely have«the opportunity of enjoying. This is to he followed by the excellent comedy “ Our American Cousin;” and the sensational drama “The Angel of Midnight” and_ other pieces are in preparation. Changes in the entertainment will from time to time be judiciously made, lima di Murska having been engaged, and is to be succeeded by Mr. Talbot, tragedian, and Mr. Haggett. On Saturday evening a number of Masons of Wellington entertained Messrs. Newland and Whitcombe at dinner at the Panama Hotel. It.will be remembered that these gentlemen were accredited by the Taranaki Masonic Lodges to represontthem at the installation of Sir Donald McLean ; but owing to the detention of the Hawea by stormy weather, they arrived too late to be present, which was much regretted from the circumstance that Mr. Newland occupies the distinguished position of being the oldest Master Mason in the colony. Sir Donald McDean was present at the dinner on Saturday evening, and everything went off very pleasantly, Mr. Light having prepared an excellent dinner. The extremely bad weather again greatly interfered with the attendance at the Opera on Saturday night. The beautiful opera “Hermit’s Bell” was repeated, and went well. The company sail for on Napier Tuesday night late, and to fill up a couple of evenings, have engaged the Odd Bellows* Hall, To-night Miss Lambert will take her benefit, “II Trovatore ” being presented positively for the last time. On Tuesday evening, when Mr. Simonseu takes a benefit, acts from “Maritana,” “Norma,” and “Martha,” and a concert will be given. Such a rich programme should draw a very crowded house, and we trust it will be a substantial benefit for Mr. Simonsen, who has had many difficulties to contend with during his stay here. _ Those who have had the pleasure of witnessing the performances of his large and exceedingly clever company must have appreciated the great efforts made by the management to place on the boards in a creditable manner many of the choicest operas in existence, and a recognition of his efforts would be graceful on his benefit night. It may be mentioned that the admission fees have been reduced. A native was arrested at Alexandra the other day for stealing pigs from a Mr. Ferguson. The Waikato Times reports a funny incident in connection therewith. The Alexandra correspondent of the Cross being in the same room with Mr. Ferguson, the loser of the pigs, the latter (Ferguson, not the pigs) observed, you’re correspondent for the Government paper, the Cross are’nt you ? The correspondent admitted the soft impeachment. Well, then, said Mr. Ferguson, you are one of the Defence Minister’s shepherds, and one of his lambs has stolen my pigs. The correspondent was equal to the occasion. “ Oh, dear, no,” he replied,“ it wasn’t one of our lambs, but one of Sir George Grey's black sheep who did it.” A sporting writer in the (Queenslander thus discourses of a system of “knocking out” resorted to by horsey men ; —For be it known that the subtle : spirit that pervades the “ Heathen Chinee ” is abroad in the land of Australia, and the spirit of finance, and not of plucky, dashing sport, presides at the table. Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson, may possibly reside in Sydney; yea, perchance it may be even in' Melbourne, and news comes to town that' Brisbane or Sandhurst, or Glen Junes, or Sweatborough (it matters not which), has offered a grand prize to be raced for by the fourilegged steeds. * Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson are each and all of them owners of several flyers, and when tlm racing is done at home they run truly on their merits, and the luck of the handicap, or the stable condition, awards tho prize to one or the other of them, as may happen. But when it comes to travelling to a distance to secure a prize of money, our four friends, S., 8., J., and R., owners of our four-legged friends the horses aforesaid, are apt to lay their heads together, and one of them discourseth to his fellows, and with one eye closed, somewhat as follows: —“ See here, chaps, it’s no use our all going lip to Sweatborough with our strings ; it will cost us a hundred notes apiece at least, and there is only £BOO to be won. Let’s decide when the weights are out \vho shall send his lot up, and the Other three mil stay at home with their horses, and ‘stand in’ for a share of the winnings." And tlius it ariseth that the broker’s “ knock out” at an auction-sale is emulated in racing .circles, and that low entrances and thigh prizes in country towns in the colonies enable all horse-owning hands from abroad first to enter and then to make up their minds, after the handicap is out, which of the four or half-dozen of them shall go up and collar the money.

No. 3 of Hansard has been received, f The first Assembly ball of the season is-to be given this evening at the Provincial s ,Halh It is stated i that his Excellency the Governor intends to have a) day’s shooting at Nelson shortly. ' There were only two police cases before the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Saturday—one of lunacy, the other of vagrancy. The hon. the Speaker gives his first dinner to members of the House of Representatives this evening. They are treasuring as relics in Blenheim the first plough brought into the province and the cannon with which the Wairau plain was bought. Everett’s Hibernicon, which is at present doing a good business in Wanganui, will open at the Odd Fellows’ Hall again on Wednesday evening. The renowned German traveller, Herr Schafer, is now in Queensland, and has planned out for himself a journey on foot from Brisbane to the Gnlf of Carpentaria and Port Somerset, and then through the Straits settlements and the continent of Asia. It will be seen by reference to an advertisement elsewhere, that a musical and literary entertainment in aid of the building fund of the Wesleyan Church, Adelaide-road, will be held in the Dixon-street schoolroom to-morrow evening. More about the colleges and universities. The Star says the affairs of the Dunedin University are getting into such a state as to make it seem almost desirable that they should he investigated by a commission of enquiry, composed not of politicians or merely rich men, but of men of learning, conversant with the management of a university, and whose integrity is above suspicion. Some time since it was stated that it was intended to erect a Temperance Hall on the site given for that purpose by the Hon. W. Fox. The Advocate now learns that all the preliminary matters were arranged at a meeting of the Temperance bodies the other evening. It is proposed to erect the hall by a joint-stock company, whose capital is to be £6OO in so many shares of £1 each. The hall will be exclusively under the management of Temperance members, but will be available for general purposes, That political-religious paper, the Catholic Tablet, is much incensed at the turn affairs have taken in Parliament. It calls the acts of the Government in relation to the Piako Swamp “ outrageous political immorality ;” fears “ the introduction of English and Irish landlordism into the country,” and says “ the conduct of the majority of the House of Representatives is alarming.” If the Tablet would “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” and keep to its religion, it would be much better. At anyrate the editor might then write about what he understood. The natives as a rule are not a miserly race; in fact, their character is rather the reverse of that. However, says the Taranaki Herald, an old native named Tuhangae, but better known as Atu, who has for years been about the town earning money by chopping wood, &c., died on Sunday, 25th ult., in his whare on the Devonline. Mrs. Gyde, we believe, had been attending on the old man whilst he was ill; and on Sunday evening, the 25th ult., whilst dying, he kept pointing with his finger to something under him, so she mentioned it to Mr. Stockman, who, on looking under the deceased, found a leather havresaok in which was £34 4s. 6d. in half-crowns, shillings, and sixpences, bearing the marks of old age. Three or four years ago when a Mr. Howard, of Auckland, was down here buying wool, he met Atu, and spoke to him, when the native pointed to his breast. Mr. Howard, thinking he was perhaps hungry, was putting his hand into his pocket to give him some money to buy food with, when Atu drew from beneath his coat some dirty rags, and placed them in Mr. Howard’s hand. On opening the package it was found to contain £6O, which Mr. Howard carried into the bank, communicating to the native authorities what he had done. Mr. Parris tried to get Atu to go to the bank to have the amount placed in his name, but the native refused to do so. Tuhangae belongs to the Taranaki tribes, and was taken when a boy as a slave by the Ngapuhi, but was set free by them.

An accident which might have been attended with most serious results happened in the private residence of Mr. John F. Schultze, of Bull’s, on the evening of the 25th. The Rangitikei Advocate says : —“ Mr. Schultze had been reading while sitting before the fire, the night being an exceedingly cold one, and having finished, in putting the book on the table, which was drawn up close behind him, he upset the kerosene lamp, some of the contents of which fell on the upper part of Mrs. Schultze’s dress, who was reclining on the sofa. The dress was immediately in flames, when Mr. Schultze, with the greatest presence of mind, rushed for a greatcoat, with which he immediately enveloped his wife, and extinguished the flames, and although the dress was completely burnt, no injury of any consequence was received. The excitement was so great that it is scarcely known how the rest of the flames were overcome. We congratulate Mr. Schultze upon his lucky escape from what might have been a sad experience in the new practice of cremation.” A telegram records the death of Henry Kingsley. “Men of the Time” mentions that he was a brother of the Rev. C. Kingsley, horn in 1830, and was educated at King’s College, London, and Worcester College, Oxford. He left Oxford in 1853, and proceeded to Australia, where he resided five years, returning in 1858. He has contributed to the “North British ” and “ Fortnightly Reviews,” and to “Fraser’s” and “Macmillan’s Magazines.” His best known, works are “ Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn,” published in 1859; “Ravenshoe,” in 1861 ; “Austin Elliot,” in 1863 ; “The Hillyars and the Burtons: a Story of Two Families,” in 1865 : “Leighton Court: a Country House Story,” in 1866 ; and afterwardr published in the “ Gentleman’s Magazine,” “ Mademoiselle Mathilde.” Since then ho has written three novels: “ Stretton,” “ Hetty,” 1871 ; and “ Old Margaret,” 2 vols., 1871. Leaving his work of story writing for a time, ho undertook the editorship of the Daily Review, the paper which represents the Free Church party in Edinburgh. Finding a difficulty iu getting a war correspondent,die went to tho campaign himself, was present at the battle of Sedan,, and was afterwards the first Englishman iu the town. After eight weeks of experience as war correspondent, Mr. Kingsley returned, and, giving up the Daily Review after eighteen months’ editorship, we believe, took to his old work as a novelist. From a reliable source, the Wairarapa Standard learns that fair, but rather slow, progress is being made with the railway over the Rimutaka ranges. The summit tunnel is 1860 feet in length. On the Featheraton side it has been excavated to its full size for a distance of about 1100 feet from the mouth or more than half way ; while at the opposite, or Wellington end, driving is about to commence, and strong hopes are entertained that the whole length will be pierced in eight months from the present time. At the same time it must he borne in mind, that from the looseness and laminated strata cut through, it will have to be cased nearly its whole length with brickwork, varying iu thickness according to tho solid or friable nature of the walls and roof of the tunnel. On Mr. McKirdy’s contract about 120 men are employed, and work steadily. The same may be said of Mr. Oakes’s contract, which is a difficult one. In fact, all the three contracts, from an engineering and manual labor point of view, offer serious difficulties in execution. For these contracts, it, has been difficult to obtain and retain first-class navvies. The men are paid from 7s. to . Bs. per day ; some earn more. These rates of wages may appear high, but in these ranges the rainfall is excessive and very frequent, arid the number of days the men can work in a month is much less than at a lower altitude.- Hence many men prefer a lower rate of wages on the plains to a higher rate bn the hills. From this labor difficulty, and to expedite the progress of the works, it has been found necessary to introduce and try Chinese labor for Mr. Oakes’s contract. How it will answer remains to be seen. Sixty

iChinamen have arrived, and are on the works ; .sixty more are expected, Their pay will, be about 6s. per day ; and it is ,now to be hoped ’that more rapid progress will be made on this,' the longest delayed railway line in New Zealand. In reference to the smelting of silver at the Thames recently, the Advertiser has the follow>nff;—This, we believe, is the first silver smelted in any of the Australian colonies. The ore, as our readers may recollect, was sent to the Thames in order to enable Mr. Masters to experiment and ascertain the best method of reducing it to a compact marketable article. Having the command of so many appliances on the Thames, which could not be procured in Nelson without a great deal of loss of time and money, Mr. Masters determined to bring the ore to the Pyrites- Works, where be could carry out his experiments at little cast. Mr. Masters has had a blast furnace erected, and in this the first smelting took place yesterday. The flux used was oyster shells, and we are glad to say that the trial smelting was a perfect success, and we congratulate that company on the silvery bright prospects before them. A successful photo of the proceedings*was taken as the silver stream came running out of the taphole, which was opened by the magic wand or iron bar held by one of the employes, and driven with sledge hammer blows delivered with right good will by Mr. Masters. The mineral or metal, or whatever the “ pigs” may be, was assayed subsequently, and proved to be worth rather more than 700ozs. to the ton, besides containing a large percentage of copper. These have to be melted again, and the further process will reduce the debris and make the “ pig” worth lOOOozs. of silver to the ton. During the night several other “pigs” were poured, and the process on each occasion was watched by large numbers. A “ digging bee” is the latest development in the bee line. The Gedong Advertiser records a bee of this kind started by Mr. George Cathoart, the manager of the Bank of Victoria at Queonseliff, for a useful purpose. The silting up of sand in the bathing house at Queenscliff has long, formed subject for regret, as the extensive establishment, built at great cost, was comparatively useless, and Queenscliff was shorn of one of the chief requisites to attract visitors from up country districts. To have had to pay for the clearing away of the sand would have cost a large sum of money, so Mr. Oathcart determined upon tickling the sympathies of all classes. This he did by issuing a proclamation, signed by the Mayor, calling upon high* and low to lend their strength in assisting to make a temporary breakwater on the south side of the baths, and a channel through the eastern end to scour them. Two hundred answered his appeal, the work was vigorously prosecuted throughout a whole day, and the result, it is hoped, will be permanently beneficial. It would have done many a skulker good to have seen his Honor Mr. Justice Bellows working with pick and shovel and otherwise taking part in. one of the most useful “ bees” that has yet been held. The Halcombe correspondent of a country paper writes: —Progress is the order of the day in this settlement —slow but sure; slow from the fact of the rainy season having set in, and rendering rapid progress at any out-door work impossible. The road to Feilding from here is now passable for drays, the pinches along the line being eased by cuttings, and the creeks all bridged. Nothing in the way of metalling can, of course, be done until next summer; in the meantime, we must make up our minds to get through the mud as best we can, and follow the patient example of our neighbors in Feilding, who had to do without any metalled road out of the town for two winters. The demand for building timber at the corporation sawmill, X am told, is greater than the mill can supply—at least fast enough to satisfy all parties. It is a healthy sign ; long may it continue.