Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4958, 12 February 1877, Page 2

The Bishop Elect of Melanesia is to be consecrated at Nelson during the present week. A number of the members of the Church of England Synod have returned to ■ their homes. The session will close at the end of the present week. ; ' We call attention to the advertisement in another column as to the rate given for money by the Permanent Equitable Building and Investment Society. Settling on account of the late races takes place at the Empire Hotel to-night. Nominations for the Derby of 1878 and 1879 are to be made by 8 p.m. ' The Resident Magistrate was occupied for some time on Saturday hearing a case arising out of a petty quarrel between some Italian fishermen. There was a cross action, and Mr. Crawford disposed of the c.ases by dismissing them. The Theatre Royal was largely attended on Saturday, when “The Admiral” and the extravaganza of “Pluto” formed the entertainment. “ Pluto” will be repeated this evening; but the two-act comedy “ Not such a Fool as He Looks ” will be substituted for “ The Admiral.” Mr. Shaw, jeweller, ' of J Lambton-quay, having offered a greenstone pendant to the batsman who should make the highest score on the All-England Eleven'side, it fell to Mr. Charlwood, and Mr. T. B. Armitage presented the trophy to the winner on Friday at the Panama Hotel. The pendant was beautifully set, and will not be the least interesting of thd souvenirs taken Homo by the Englishmen. ! A number of Captain John McLean’s friends met on .Thursday at Mr. Driver’s office, Dunedin, and formed themselves ink d committee for the purpose of presenting this well-known gentleman with a substantial mark of their esteem. The following letter from the Hon. Mr. Holmes to the editor of the Times speaks for itself “ Sir,—l was very mush pleated to see your remarks in yester-, day’s paper about Captain McLean ; his services to the travelling public of this colony deserve some special recognition, but it should be in the shape of money, as he has not been fortunate in his private affairs, and I imagine he requires it. You may put my name down for tai pounds.;— l am, &c., M. Holmes.” j A very painful accident happened to a Mr. Hughes on Saturday on the Hutt road, between Nghauranga' and Kaiwarra. He was riding on a horse, in company with a ladyj and returning from the races, when he was suddenly thrown off; and the hook attached to his arm, from which the wrist was some time since severed, caught in'the reins, 1 arid he was dragged for a short distance along the ground. He was picked up by Mr. Lingard, who hap; pened to be there at the time, and who put the unfortunate man into his trap and drove him to the Hospital. There Hughes was attended to by Dra. Johnston and Bradford. His leg was found to be broken, arid he was generally, much bruised, as may well be imagined. _ How; he escaped sustaining greater injury is’ indeed a wonder. On making enquiries at the Hospital yesterday our reporter learnt that-Hughes was doing as well as could, be expected, seeing the-nature of the injuries received. / i j The following are the replies .made by the insurance agents to the letters of Captain Moss, of the Central Fire Brigade, in. reference to the grant-in-aid I—“ February sth, 1877.—Dear Sir, —In reply to your letter of the 3rd instant, respecting a. grant of £250 .from the. insurance;' companies, I beg to inform you that at a meet-' ing of the insurance agents; ■ held on the 29th: ult., the following resolution was agreed to ;—• ‘ That as the resolution' to increase the grant-; in-aid to £3OO was paased:on;the understanding that the insurance companies should not be asked for other '‘contributions,,.they ale u»-i willing to renew their promise- of £260 upon conditions which were refused by the CityCouncil—Yours, kc., Walter W. Johnston, Chairman of Board of. Insurance Agents.’ ‘February sth, 1877.—Dear Sir,—l am in; receipt, of. your letter of this morning respecting the grant-in-aid from the insurance companies. lam afraid I do-riot quite understand it, During the year ending 31st October, 1876, your brigade received the grant-in-aid ; during the present year, .the brigade will also receive it, and so on I hope for many years; and there is to be no alteration in the time at which the grant is made, for the insurance companies propose to pay their contribution to the City Council at the same time as they have,hitherto paid it to' the brigade.—. Yours, ;&c., Walter; W. Johnston, Chairman of Board of Insurance Agents. l ”-,. ;■ ■' j

By arrangement the pulpits of St. John’s and St. : Andrew’s Presbyterian Churches were occu-i pied yesterday alternately by the Rev. Mr. Ingles and the Rev. Mr. Watt, missionaries from the; New Hebrides, who are at present on a visit to Wellington, Both preached, interesting sermons, and 1 advocated the claims of,the missions on those who took an interest in propagating the Gospel among the natives of those islands. 1 On Sunday afternoon'the schools connected with St. John’s assembled in the schoolroom l behind the church, when they were addressad, by Mr. Watt, who in a very able speech explained the manners and customs of the ; natives en the island on which he labored. He also very graphically described some of their; barbarous customs, and the great difficulty! they (the missionaries) had to contend with onthis account; • Mr. Ingles then introduced one, of the native preachers ho had brought with; him to the aridience. 1 The native (whose name, we were unable to hear) read in his own' language a number..of,_ve’raes from the first, chapter of St, John’s Gospel. He read with; great feeling, and aqemed to take a dqep in-, terest in what ho was reading.• ; Three of, the; natives then sang one of their hymns (assisted, by Mr. and Mrs. Watt) in a very pleasing; manner—their voices blended very nicely, together, and were anything but displeasing to the eftr. Mr. Ingles next addressed children, and pointed out to them the great; advantages they possessed over the children of. the islands, of the New t Hebrides. Here children were well dressed, and had the use of, the Bible and Sunday schools; while on the islands mentioned, until'the missionaries visited them, there were none of these things, lie, also informed tfiem that’ it. was. only lately, that they had been able to give the natives of these islands a Bible in their own language; it had taken him, assisted by one or two others, over 25 years to complete/the task. Wnat made the task so difficult was the fact of the number of dialects.. Bach /island speaks as it ■ were a'different language;and on some of Hie; islands tw’o or three dialects are spoken. He exhorted the children ’to pray for the enlightenment of those who are m a state of darkness as to religion, and“to help by donations the; carrying out of this, important work. _ Collections were -made 1 after the morning and evening services, also at the afternoon service in aid of the inissiou fund; which were very liberally re- ■ sponded to. It bos been arranged that the; children''of St.’John’s Sunday schools are to . visit the mission schooner, the Dayspnng, now lying at the Queen’s Wharf, on Saturday afternoon next at 2 o’clock. A public meeting is to be held shortly, at which the claims of the Now Hebrides mission will be advocated.

A collision between two cabs took place in Willis-street on Saturday evening at about 6 o’clock. Only one of them was damaged, the shafts being injured. . Mr. Griffiths may be congratulated on the fact of his business premises having received, comparatively speaking, so little damage. The machinery was at work on Saturday as usual. The Pantascope. was well attended on Saturday night, and prizes- were as usual. It will be noticed by the advertisement that the exhibition will only be continued for three nights longer, 1 “ Tom Brown” requests us to state that in the hurry of writing his <! Cricket Gossip,’’ which appeared in our issue of Saturday morning, he forgot to mention that the averages which he gave of the Englishmen’s batting and, bowling included all the matches they have played (with the exception of those he mentions as not being procurable) from the first match in South Australia down to the match finished on Thursday against the Wellingtonians. There, appears to have been a great deal of excitement, in Vincent Coupty as to which should be the county town, Clyde or Cromwell.' Mr. Pyke,’ the chairman, tried to,, please, both parties. The result may be gathered from the following extract from a correspondent’s letter to the Otago Daily Times'.—"lntimation was sent to Cromwell that the chairman would vote that Cromwell be the county town if that municipality merged into the county, and so declared in forty-eight hours. It was direct from the chairman, and the matter having been under consideration by the Town Council, that body, in order to make matters smooth for the, chairman’s promised vote, actually met, resolved, and obtained some sixty signatures to a petition that the municipality be dissolved. Judge then the surprise and indignation excited when the question came up for final settlement, by Mr, Pyke giving his substantive vote for Cromwell, and his.“adjective” (or casting) vote for Clyde. The inconsistency of his act must be at once- apparent; but the treachery of it, the breach of word, of honor, of promise, aye, even of written guarantee, can only be fully appreciated by those who know the circumstances, We have heard frequently of his slippery propensities, but we have now experienced them, and he may expect the consequences. As soon as the news reaohe I Cromwell and received the requisite confirmation, the utmost excitement prevailed. Business was suspended, and, as if an earthquake had occurred, everyone was in the street, and many and deep were the imprecations upon the delinquent’s head. Ultimately an effigy of Mr. Pyke was suspended from the flagstaff of the Town Hall, with one of the gloved hands behind his back, palm upwards. The brass band played “The Hogue’s March,”- and some willing hands finally cast the effigy into the River Clutha, when it was I observed that on this occasion- at- least he would “ go straight.” ... The following mendacious letter on. the “Wretched condition of ,New Zealand”’was published in the North British Daily Mail of December 4 ;—"Sir,—l have just received from a relative in Dunedin a letter wherein he! briefly describes the wretched condition of New Zealand at present, and as his remarks may serve as a warning to intending emigrants to that country,''l trust you will allow their insertion in some part of your valuable space. He says— ‘ The country is deluged with,people, who, though able and willing to’work, can’ get nothing to db, and the Government still keep bringing morel , There is a serious trouble looming in the -distance,. Inasmuch as- the unemployed, will, ere long, be a source of considerable annoyance to the Government. They . are marching about band after band, begging : work or bread for their children. The Government have given some stone-breaking and country roads to repair, and for . this they get 10s. or 12s. pep week. But when .they pay ..9s, to . 13s. .per week for rent, and from 4s. to 6s. for coals, there is not much left for food and clothes.; Besides, the weather is so miserably wet, that in a fortnight they require to go to the hospital to get ready fer a fresh. start at road-making. I will stake-all I possess there is not another country in the world can, compete with New Zealand for ; rheumatism, lumbago, neuralgia, and- chilblains; and if any doctor comes out here who can effectually cure these, he will make his fortune as easily as say “Ely presto.” The price of food is enormous, and for a small box of a simple ointment they charge the extortionate sum.of Is. In conclusion, I may add that there will be some, fine fun when the Government have to pay’the interest on the borrowed money'and the sinking -fund for the; capital.’—l am, &c., J.D.H.”

Some days ago we published a telegram to the;effeot that the police in Dunedin,had determined to put. a step. to gambling by billiard play. By papers to' hand we observe that a prosecution has taken place. John r Jenkins was charged with having, on the 27th January, permitted gambling by playing at billiards for •money in his licensed house, the Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock Hotel, Green Islands Mr. A. Bathgate appeared for the defendant, who pleaded not guilty. Inspector Mallard said; that the circumstances of the case were these : Twenty men put down half-a-crown each, and in fact go in for what you might almost term sweepstakes. The names of the players are put oh a slip of paper. They are drawn. The first , and second men play together. Consequently, there would be ten games between the twenty players. On the expiration of that game the ten players put their names. into a hat and they are drawn, and consequently five games are played. The five men at the end of that game stand put. , The odd man stands, out. The two games of four are played, and the winner plays with the odd man. Then nt the expiration of that the two, .last men play and the money in certain proportions is divided. • Those are the particulars of the game. He (Inspector Mallard) held that parties playing at billiards, cards, or with dice, for money ’or money’s worth must “ go into the gambling territory.” He cited a case; from “ The Justice of the Peace,”, November,; 1876, an English Journal. ’ Mr. Bathgate con-; tended that billiards was purely a game of skill, and not a game of chance. ; Seeing that 1 the Licensing Bench had set their face against! billiard tournaments, be wished to state that the game alluded to by Inspector Mallard was played without the defendant’s knowledge, that the table was let, in the ordinary way, and the defendant only received the ordinary rate of payment, / William Monteith, store,keeper, deposed that on the 27th January , he witnessed a billiard match in the defendant s • hotel. The game was got up by the players themselves. One shilling a game, the ordinary fate, went towards payment for the table. ■Witness, who was acting as marker on the occasion, received the money and handed it over to the defendant. His Worship said that as this case was very important, he would re.serve his decision,for a week,, After some twenty-five* years working at science, twenty-two in the colonies, Mr, H. A. Severn is returning very soon to the old country to take up scientific work. Having collected, purchased, or himself constructed, some fine apparatus of the very best kind, he purposes delivering a course of experimental science lectures throughout this colony. 'He has fixed on six or _ eight lectures. Thus— solar physics, artificial illumination, spectrum analysis, solar system, galvanism, electric telegraph, magnetism, &c., the earth and its satellite, &c. He will use large lantern, large automatic electric lamp, 50-cell battefy, prisms, &c. for spectrum analysis on the screen (12ft x 12ft), Crooke’s radiometers, the new light measurer, all the latest photos taken , of the sun, the spots, eruptions, prominences, photos of the full moon, first quarter, enlarged views of twenty of the -craters, f nebulas and photos of the planets. All these are thrown on the screen by Browning’s best automatic mixed gas lime-light. He has also made a complete gas works to have on 1 the: table at work.* He will exhibit the ■pendulum experiment of Foucaults to show the rotation of the earth, oxy-hydrogen mieroacope, animaloulaj on the screen, fleas, &c.; the grand experiment of the growth of crystals ; oxy-hydrogen kaleidoscope; fifty views of Pans, Rome,London, Egypt, Pompeii; 100 of Victoria and New South Wales ; fifty of Grahamstown;

in all some 500 to show on the screen. He hag slides for the screen to show the decomposition of water by galvanism. For the lecture on the solar system he has Browning’s best mechanical slides, &c.; fifty objects for the oxyhydrogen microscope. He gives six lectures in Auckland, starting on the 12th next; Wellington about the 20th inst., or sooner. It is pretty well known that Mr. Severn has given a great number of scientific lectures. He has just received a handsome address from the Mechanics’ Institute at Grahamstown, at a large public meeting, for the assistance rendered by him to the institute and to the public charities. Mr. Severn expresses surprise that the Government do not institute every year a Social Science Congress to lecture in every large town, as thh British Association does in the old country, as it : is' very much wanted. His electric lamp, &0,, is specially for the fusion of metals, and throwing their spectra on the screen'. The experiment of sifting a beam of light will be done, taking a photograph ip the dark, and many more of the best experiments of the day. He has up the office of assayer to the Bank of Hew-Zealand.-

The IunnKBESiEW of • 84-ROK: Rothschild is the beat guarantee ofthe soundness of commercial paper. Tbe autograph of that great financier oni the back of a negotiable instrument would make it a$ good as a bank note.' In- likS.-malnier the' indorsement of the distinguished physicians who have, abov? their own signatures, l approved- and -recommended] XTdolpho Wolfe’s Sohibdaji Aromatic Schnapps as a pure and most desirable stimulant, diuretic, and stomachic, is conclusive as to its efficacy.—[Anvr.] ' i :