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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5548, 9 January 1879, Page 2

At the meeting of the Wellington District Highway Board] yesterday, one of the Wardens, Mr. Taylor, remarked, when the question of 'wages was under the consideration of the board, that during his: experience ,iu this part of New Zealand, extending over a period of thirty-nine years, laborers were nerer-so scarce as they are at the present time.

All the immigrants by the Femglen are now landed. The last of them were landed yesterday forenoon. Fifteen are to be forwarded by the steamer Taiaroa to-day ; some go ashore at Nelson, and the rest at Taranaki. The remaining portion, 35 in number, are going to the West Coast by the steamer Charles Edward, which will leave either to-day or torn omrow.

When the Supremo Court sat yesterday morning the jury which had been locked up ail the previous night in Sweete’s case, were brought in and discharged, still being unable to agree. Sweete will be tried again this sitting of the Court. Kate Dawes pleaded guilty of having attempted to destroy herself, and recognisances were entered into to secure that she should come up for judgment when called upon. The case of Maokie was then taken. He was found guilty of forgery after a long 1 trial, but the jury recommended him to mercy on the ground of his youth, the laxity of the bank as to inspection, and the smallness of the salary attached to the responsible position held by prisoner. Mackie was defended by Mr. Forwood. Prisoner pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing money, and was remanded till this morning for sentence. There are two cases of assault yet to be tried, one against P. J. Murtagh and the other against Falloon, and also the forgery charge against Sweete. The question as to the injustice of Maoris being exempted from the payment of rates was brought under the notice of the Wellington District Highway Board at its monthly meeting yesterday. Mr. Smith stated that the Hon. Wi Parata had obtained a grant for the Taupo Block at Pahautanni, and had advertised it for sale. The owner had refused to pay rates, whereas if a European—be he ever so poor - , and his family ever so large—rented a couple of acres from the Maoris, the rate collector pounced upon him at once for his rates. It seemed to Mr. Smith to be very unfair that Maori proprietors should be allowed to use the public roads without contributing a penny towards their maintenance. The Chairman said that under tho existing law there was no power given to recover rates from Maori owners.

Yesterday was the day fixed for the Hon. John Martin to take possession of his recently acquired estate in the Wairarapa. The sale was negotiated through Mr. Tolhurst, the; mauager of the Bank of New Zealand. : The 1 amount of purchase money, as already stated, was £BO,OOO, the terms being £25,000 cash, and the balance at any time within ten years, bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum. It may be stated that eight years ago the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse purchased the property for £22,000, but since that time he has carried out some extensive improvements, and broken up with the plough a considerable portion of the property. Eighteen months ago, when the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse was in England, he wrote out a letter to a friend, in which he expressed his belief that property would come down in value, and telling him to sell if he could get an offer of £60,000 for the estate. The result shows that his prognostications were incorrect. Not only has the hon. gentleman obtained £20,000 more for the property than he was disposed to accept for it eighteen months ago, but there was no quibbling about the price. A letter was written to say that the Hon. Mr. Martin was prepared to give £BO,OOO, and the same day the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse intimated his acceptance of the offer. Ever since taking possession of the property Mr. Waterhouse has had a great deal to contend against in the shape of the rabbit nuisance. We are informed that he kept two men constantly employed shooting rabbits, giving them £1 per week each and found, besides a certain consideration for the skins. In addition to these two men, each of the shepherds carried a gun about with him for the purpose of destroying these pests to ruuholders. Last year, Mr. Waterhouse shipped as many as 17,000 rabbit skins to the old country, and the amount which they realised in the English market went a considerable way towards defraying tbe expense incurred in procuring them. It would seem, however, that the rabbit nuisance has no terrors for the Hon. John Martin; and it is to be hoped his enterprising purchase will realise that gentleman’s most sanguine expectations. Mr. Mansford, accompanied by Mr.E. Baker, proceeded to the Upper Hutt yesterday, for the purpose of holding the usual periodical sittings of the Resident Magistrate’s Court. There was very little business to be disposed of. On the criminal side there were cross actions set down between Rachael Sykes and Emma Sykes, for using obscene language. It was evidently a family dispute, but as neither of the parties appeared, both cases were struck out. In two' of the civil cases set down, the parties did not put in an appearance, and the cases were accordingly struck out. George Wyfth summoned William Hannam to recover the sum of £5 15s. sd. Judgment was given for the plaintiff, and defendant was ordered to pay the amount and costs in instalments of 20s. per month, the first instalment to be paid on the Ist of Mar . - h next.

As the Hutt County Council considers that the reclaimed land is provincial property, and that they are entitled to a twentieth part of the proceeds of the sale, they have submitted the matter to Mr. Travers for his opinion thereon. Mr. Travers is to report his opinion to the next menthly meeting of the Council, which will be held on Tuesday next. The Council also considers ' that they were entitled to a twentieth of the amount realised by the sale of the Court-house, and it is expected that Mr. Travers’ opinion will apply to all property which formerly belonged to the Provincial Government before the Abolition of Provinces Act came into operation. The land revenue for the month of December, so far, shows a great falling off. The returns are as follows :—General, £5; Ellesmere and Forsyth reclamation, &c., £674 45.; Westport and Ngakawau Coalfield Kailway, £2 13s. 4d.; Ashburton, £1493 11s. 3d.; Ashley, £1493 Bs. 5d.; Akaroa, £486 ; Bay of Islands, £274 55.; Bruce, £4Bl 103. lid.; Bulier, £37 7s. 3d.; Olutha, £635 Is. 4d.; Coromandel, £278; Collingwood, £3l 19s. 6d.; Grey, £56 2s. 6d.; Geraldine, £597 ; Inangahua, £ll3 Bs, 6d.; Lake, £943 15s. Bd.; Manukau, £978 55.; Manawatu, £75 135.; Maniototo, £2BO 25.; Marlborough, £5 11s. Bd.; Patea, £1 ; Sounds, £1 Os. lOd. ; Southland, £9156 11s. 3d. ; Stewart’s Island, £2l 17a. 6d.; Selwyn, £6B 9s. lid,; Taieri, £144 10s.; Taranaki, £1790 ss. Bd.; Thames, 7s. 6d.; Tuapeka, £I4OB 4s. 5d.; Vincent, £65 75.; Wairarapa East, 10s.; Wairarapa West, £44 ; Waipawa, £66 9s. Bd.; Waimea, £69 Is. 4d.; Waimate, £742 75.; Waikouaiti, £362 17s. lid.; Wallace, £742 125.; Whakatane, £ls; Westland, £l7 12s. 6d; total, £23,661 9s. Bd. The following land has been sold on deferred payments : Lake, £6 ; Southland, £3 ; Selwyn, £4B ; Wallace, £2B 10s.; total, £BS 10s. This gives a gross total of £24,746 19s. Bd. for December, i

There are to be special and ordinary meetings of the City Council this evening, commencing at 7 and 7.30 p.m. The following is the order paper: —Consideration of by-law for regulation of vehicles; confirmation of street levels'—Pinestreet, Brougham-street, Daniel-street, and Adelaide-read ; confirmation of by-law—car-riage of corpses; report of public works committee; report of Waring Taylor committee; report of City Surveyor re sewage out-fall; report of City Surveyor re extended watersupply; tenders—metalling and formation of sundry streets; accounts. Notices of Motion. —Councillor Fisher to move, —That Mr. D. Climie be retained as drainage engineer. Councillor Maginaity to move,—That the time has arrived for letting the Queen’s Wharf by public auction for a period of three years. Those who have been waiting for the sale of the subdivision of Mr, Hunter"s acres will be glad to learn that the allotments will be offered for sale on Monday, the 27th inst. The enterprising firm who purchased the acres have set an example to other vendors, inasmuch as the roads have been made and the side walks ketbed and metalled, and purchasers will be able at .once to erect buildings bn their allotments, We need hardly say that these are among the best acres that have been offered in the' city of Wellington, as they command a most magnificent view of the harbor and Te Aro Flat,; added to which they are within a few. minutes' walk of any part of the town, and have frontages to both Wellington-terrace, Macdonald-crescent, Percival - street, and Dixcn-street; and above all are easy of access. We think that any one desiring a really good site will do well to secure one of these, as they are about the last of the available buUding allotmentsbn the terrace.

The Napier Weekly Mercury says :—A communlcation from the Government some time ago, to the local governing bodies stated that owing to their intention to support the hospital, no deductions would be made from the subsidies due to them. The Hawke’s Bay County ,has , accordingly received its subsidies in full, but one-half of those due to the borough of Napier have bean stopped. There is owing to the borough on the general rate subsidy to March 31st last,. £2286 12s. id,, bat only £1143 6s. 2d. has been paid. The Corporation has "caused to be addressed to: the Colonial Treasurer a strong letter of remonstrance.

In all probability the Resident Magistrate’s Court will be held in the old Provincial Hall to-day. A meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society will be held in the Museum on Saturday evening. A meeting of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday afternoon, but nothing of any public interest transpired.

As an indication of the state of the labor market, it may be mentioned that men cannot to got to do ordinary road work at less than a shilling an hour. The Inspector under the Dangerous Goods Act yesterday tested two parcels of kerosene imported by Messrs. W. M. Bannatyne and Co., per Southminster. A sample from 124 cases of “ Light of the Age ” brand went beyond the regulation flashing'point, 120 deg. Fahr.; but that from 510 cases of “ Diamond” flashed at 102, or Bdeg. below regulation point.

We have received the December number of “ Coo-e-e,” an illustrated shorthand magazine, published in Melbourne. The venture has now survived six months, and from its appearance it ought to attain a permanent place in reporters’ literature. The characters are very clearly lithographed, and the specimens of different styles of shorthand writing seem to be in keeping with orthodox rules. The illustrations are portraits of Sir Redmond Barry and the late Edward Wilson, of the Argus.

In addition to the Pantomime of “ Snowwhite,” the burlesque of “ 111-treated-ill Trovatore” was produced at the Theatre Royal last night. There was not a particularly good house, but those who were there thoroughly enjoyed the bill of fare provided. To-morrow night the sensational drama “Struck Oil” will be put on the stage, when the Misses Amy and Alice Johns will take a benefit, and no doubt will be honoied by house. The following is the bowling analysis of the cricket match which took place on Tuesday last between elevens of Wellington and Wairarapa :— Wellington—Armitage, 87 balls, 20 runs, 9 maidens, 1 wicket, 2 wides ; Hickson, 83 balls, 26 runs, 3 maidens, 8 wickets, 2 wides. Second innings—Armitage, 45 balls, 30 runs, 1 maiden, 3 wickets ; Hickson, 82 balls, 33 runs, 4 maidens, 8 wickets ; Thompson, 40 balls, 23 runs. Wairarapa—Hawthorne, 60 balls, 351 runs, 3 maidens, 1 wicket; Ronaldson, 51 balls, 11 runs, 5 maidens, 1 wide; Smith, 35 balls, 10 runs, 3 maidens, 2 wickets ; Greig, 63 balls, 33 runs, 2 maidens, 1 wicket; Cundy, 52 balls, 20 runs, 3 maidens, 3 wickets, 2 wides; Edmunds, 25 balls, 6 runs, 1 maiden; Salmon, W. J., 32 balls, 13 runs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets, 2 wides ; Tancred, 10 balls, 10 runs.

The Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club has taken a new lease of life. It bar revised its rules, and elected twenty-seven new members. The club having broken through its old exclusiveness, will receive its reward in the public support that it will now merit. We are glad to hear that there is every probability of the negotiations terminating satisfactorily that are now pending between the club and the Agricultural and Pastoral Society for the acquisition of a permanent racecourse at Hastings. The Wanganui Herald says :—“ Satisfactory progress is being made in all departments of the work to provide Wanganui with a new illuminating agent. On a personal visit to the principal scene of operations this morning, we found the gasometer to be complete as far as the placing of the plates is concerned, there being but four (left off for the purpose of light and access to the interior) yet remaining to be put in position. Much has yet to be done, however, in the way of riveting, binding, painting, both interior and exterior, cleaning out the inside, &c., before the huge holder will be ready to fulfil its proper functions. The whole of the pillars and transverse girders are in position, but have to be painted. The gasometer, when filled to its utmost capacity, will probably hold between 33,000 and 34,000 feet. A few yards to the westward of the meter the retort house is being built. The exterior walls, which are of good and solid construction, have now reached the height of four feet or so from the ground. The smoke stack, however, which is to be about forty feet high and of tree trunk shape, is not yet begun. None of the interior arrangements of the retort-house are commenced, and probably will not be till the exterior is near completion. To keep pace with the other parts of the work, the gasometer and the distributing apparatus—particularly the latter—more hands, if obtainable, might advantageously be employed on the brickwork of the building.” Just before leaving Europe to attempt the North-East Passage, Professor Nordenskjold sent to the Paris Academy of Sciences an account of a mineral recently found in Sweden, and which he has named Thaumasite (“ The Wonderful.”) Professor Nordenskjold’s paper was read at last week’s meeting of the Paris Academy, and be states that the mineral has been carefully studied by his assistant, M. G. Lindstrom. Thaumasite has been met with in—(1) specimens brought by Professor Nordenskjold from the Gustav and Carlsberg mines, or the Bjelke mine at Areskustan, in 1859; (2) specimens of an old Swedish collection from the same mines, 100 years ago, by M. Polhelmer, mining engineer; (3) other specimens brought from the same mines this year, at Professor Nordenskjold’s request, after the analysis of Nos. 1 and 2 had shown the strange composition of the substance, which contains at once silicic acid, carbonic acid, and sulphuric acid. The .microscopical analysis shows that the mineral is a genuine new species, and not a mixture. It appears to Professor Nordenskjold that the curious composition of the mineral is very important for a knowledge of the transformation which the materials of rock undergo, and he is convinced that thaumasite will be found in other mines when once the attention of mineralogists has been drawn to this interesting substance. The great problem (observes the London Baity Telegraph) what should be done with our surplus population, receives additional force from a circular which has just been issued by one of the suburban gas companies of London. A collector, whose business it would be to go from house to house with a book and a pen, receive payments and give receipts, was advertised for very lately in these columns. To the notice over eighteen hundred answers, we are told, were sent, the great majority of the writers being fairly well fitted for the post. This was not a huge ambition, for their only desire was to collect tolls at a very moderate stipend, and yet nearly two thousand persons offered their services. The fact shows a lamentable state of things, and recalls to mind the agitation which has lately taken place amongst city clerks for an increase of salary. There can be no doubt that a vast number of people are thrown upon the world devoid of any special knowledge by which they may procure their bread. Their friends thought that, were they only taught to read, write, and cypher, they might, by some means or other, contrive to struggle through the period of their existenee without being a direct burden to others, and they were ; made _ clerks, accountants, and shopmen. A time of business inactivity throws them out of employment; they cannot dig, to beg they are ashamed, and they are at their wit’s end for the means of livlihood. At even the place of a collector of gas accounts they snap with avidity ; it is not a kind of labor which brings any considerable accretion of distinction, but it will provide bread. And they compete with each other accordingly in attempting to obtain a place upon which, were they'able to plane wood, cut slates, or trim iron, they would look with contempt. The question arises, ” How is it they do not emigrate?” But even to this a sufficient answer is returned in the fact that they have not the money with which to cross the seas. The widespreaking plains of , Canada, Australia, and Africa, all pall for men whose labor is needed, but distance and tfie cost of travelling are at present insuperable obstacles. The day may come when Government aid will be extended to such impecunious unfortunates, and will convey them to places where, in the words of the popular song, there is “ fair elbow room for men to thrive in ;” but until such is the case they must be content to remain here ard starve, while one in eighteen hundred obtains the employment of a collector of payments for gas.

The Bm'iigo 4dvertiter says:—“This week’s number of onr comic contemporary (Punch) is almost monopolised by the famous embassy to England. The cartoon'represents Messrs, Berry and Pearson as a couple of mountebanks dressed tor their performance. The Professor is arranging a small piece of carpeting for the performances, and Mr. Berry (the framework of iron) is calling out, ‘ Hi ! hi ! Be in time, be in ,time. We’re just a going to begin.’. The third'ambassador,'‘Henderson Africanus,’ stands looking on with an expresion of supercilious disdain. A likeness of the latter, posed for the occasion, and with his severest intellectual expression, putbn for the occasion, forms ope gf the illustrations with the title, f Men of the Time, The third Ambassador.’ The other two iUustrationa represent the ambassadors under, different condi-. tio’ns. In one they are on deck at sea very ill, : and in dancing in very

questionable company at the Mabille in Paris. A decidedly fast young lady has just kicked Berry’s hat off, the latter exclaiming ‘ Seeang fay. Madam,.' There is the usual amount of humorous writing, nearly all about the ambassadors and the embassy. The value of the sun as a motive power is shown in the Exhibition by M. Mouchat, a French engineer, who shows, in the machinery department of the Champ de Mars, an ingenious combination of mirrors, by means of which he concentrates the solar ray on a boiler of special construction, and thus generates steam sufficient for all practical purposes. A large number of agricultural machines constructed on this plan are already in use, and highly esteemed, in Algeria ; but M. Mouchat has already adapted his invention to various other purposes—among others, to cookery—and with excellent results. In a small machine, with a reflector only one-fifth of a square metre in surface, he roasts (at the Exhibition) a pound of beef in twenty-two minutes, and distils a pint of wine into brandy in half an hour. With larger mirrors he has been able to generate steam, even under the very variable sky of Paris, and to raise the steam thus generated in thirty minutes to a pressure of six atmospheres. A Napier paper says :—Napier is said to abound in nuisances, nor is this to be wondered at when the Corporation is more celebrated for somnolency than for any other characteristic. Who is responsible for the disgracefully dirty condition of the streets and aide drains ? The Shakspere-road, by the side of the Government lawn fence, looks more like a stockyard than a street in a well ordered borough. The “ new blood ” in the Council does not seem to have infused fresh life in the actions of that body. The Lyttdton Times of a late date says : “ The members of the Charitable Aid Board appeared to be fairly staggered at the amount of distress which they are called upon to relieve. The year just closing has not been an exceptionally hard one for the poor, yet the amount of relief afforded by charitable aid has nearly reached £3OO in one month. Half of this was given in the shape of rations, the rest in hard cash.”

Messrs laery, Campbell, and Co. will to-day hold a sale of boots, shoes, and leather at their rooms, on Lambton-quay.

Mrs. J. A. Edwards announces the establishment of a preparatory classical school for boys, aged from six to fourteen. It will be opened on 27th January. The Education Board advertise for applications for various appointments. Mr. It. J. Duncan wi". to-day hold an extensive sale of town and country lands at his rooms, Panamastreet.

Mr. George Thomas will hold an important sale of merchandise at his rooms to-day. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency’s sale takes place this day at 3 p.m.—wool, hides, sheep skins, and tallow.