Untitled

Otago Daily Times, Issue 201, 31 July 1862, Page 4

We must decline to insert the verses signed "Entertainment," as we have no desire to render ourselves liable t> an Action for libel. We have received a letter signed "New Identity," but it is too personal for insertion in our columns. We have to acknowledge the following donations for the Hughes' fund : Mr. Itattray, £1 Is.; .Mr. John Ijogun, £\ Is. It will be seen by an official notice which appear* elsewhere, that the granting of money orders lias been unavoidably postpone I until lurther notice. We have to aclcnol wedge the receipt of Xo. 3, of '• Thatcher's Dunedin Songster," containing •'The Old Idi-ntity" and other favorite songs, and the singer's farewell address. iJnnedin has lately received two fresh additions to it-; legal staff in the persons of Thomas Parson", Ksq. and (k-orge EUitt Barton, E-q., who have been admitted and enruilelaa JSarrtoers and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Roth gentlemen are from Victoria, where they have long practised their profe.-sion. It was reported at Tmpek-i yesterday that a rich quart/ reef had been discovered near the | Wo: i!s!ifd. It wax only a rumor, and may posI .-inly have no fc.ni l.ttion, but we do not feel jusi tilled in suppressing it. j It will \>'- .-.mi by :r» a'ivertisement which a:>- ---| |«-ar.-c-lsf.-when-, tliat the .sailing of the Gotheui burg Ins be -,: \>u-,i\> Kh;d to to-:ii'>rrow, (FridaVj. ; In consequence of an advertisement ;n the Daily ! 'J'imi » ill'yesterday, conviMiinir a meeting to coni c-rt measures re>p<i.-ting the testimonial to (.'apt. i'^.trbv, our reporter a'ten-led at the Shamrock Hotel at 4 o'clock, but no meeting was held. ; A- -'lowing the 1.-< lir:g in Kentucky on the , "■■)'-;• I ol liit.- r!irui<-ipatiiiii of .-laves, the following : fr'.in t!,t- Anuricin c-.mspoud.riice of the London Sfn'tator, n.ay b<- intcn-ting :—•• In K'-i.tu-.-ky— th- -r:iunehe>t f.f the \'n\<<u Slave State-, and in ■ which within the last ten y."ar« th-- white popu. , tati >M In- i!!rr'-.i<ed in a nrio of more than three to <ii!-.' to ?be -lave — the answer to the President's <-nKi:..-ipati.n n:e.-:i_r.., -iv t -n by t'.-e legislature. w.t-; ti, pa^ n n-ohui-tn 'that any person wh,. a h . at. - the ].., trine <>:' the abolition or eman-.-i----pati hi i.f -lavery in th.- State of Kentucky, either ?i'.-.-t!y i.r indirectly, or wiio syinp,ithi7..-.s witi; h- kaine. <hall be di>.franchi«.e.d f->r life, and rc-n:e-f. ] to leave the State within ten (lavs ' I'prily she majority of f>ry-< ight to twenty-<\-i'-, by \r!iic'i the resolution was carried. \ra- ,-■: -ufriei-nt to inaki- it valid. b;jt t!n- fact >hows !i" strength of the .inti-a»»«>li!ion Mntiuier:t." Th- I.U-rri,:r->l Alhi.n say- .—- An address, in:.]'!" -f it- kis. !, lias ><Ht b'-'-n jiresenti-d toiler Mai-->:y thy giu-n. It co:n..-s from Wnher-■i-'.uipton, and i-; an address of c.in VileTice from :be widow* o- that iiri-hViurliood to tin- l{oya] Wid-rv. Mmy of the poor woni"n. widows of .•ollivrw. walked «',-voral mile- into Wolvorhampton. with the sitirle pnni'«o of nftixing their name to the paper. The Q:ii-<-:fs kindnex <■■. :!iinki,-,'.r of t| ; ,. Mjf!"-rers by t!,e liarlley aecid. lit .n the mid-t of ! S er own s..rrow<. ha.l much atll-c----:e 1 tbr-n. a-: 1 mil- them very forward on tiiis .•e.i.iori. T!i.-y s-i:d. ::< ill -y sL-ned, • Her was -o kin.! t.> them p.».»r 'vido-.vs, we be main giau to i!o her a good turn, (ioi bless her! ' " Mii-::i-uriu->tree? wi- ag tin flooded w-ferday ruorniii^ by th" b:ir>ti:nr <>f tiie drain <••• i:i>triicri-J for the ;-urj-..si> ~f coiiducting the water of the -iieanibt ]Mst tiie made ground bvtwee:i the and the Abbeyleiv House. This is trie «■ roiid time that the -am- tbin^ has occurred. If woull be weii if the proprietors would tike care lhi< time to fjirl ai:ain>t a recurrence of a similar accident by making the drain of sufn.-ient dimensions to carry oi»" not only the ordinary -treatn of water, hut the extra head of srorm water which occasionally conies down with eonM''.cr.ib!c force. Tho T.ijtiflton Timr.i thtis dilates upon the cxtriordiuary suevss that has nttrnded tho Province of Canterbury in carrying out the railway seh-uu': —'• nnly <»>K> short year since had anyone ventured to prophecy that a third part of tho sum authorised to be raised by loan for the Lyttelaud Chri-tchurcli railway would be paid out of the revenues of the Province within that period. lie would have been looked upon as a madman. Vet, so it is. Without stinting the country inanv respect—with a liberal outlay for all public wants, and a more than usuallr heavy expenditure on ordinary public works, the Province is hi a position to voti1 a second sum of jCfiU.ODO within the s'torf space of nine months for carrying on the railway works. Considering the short time that has elapsed sii'ce the settlement of Canterbury. an \ its comparatively small jwpulation, and bearing in mind that no exceptional causes have been at work to produce this result, wo do not hesitate to say that tho prosperous state of the settlement, as evinced by our ra; idly-incrc.TJiri^- revenue, is unexampled in the history of colonies, and speaks strongly in favor of the general belief in the stability of our future career. The financial history of our railway v. ill bear favorable comparison with that of any of the thousand similar schemes introduced either in England or elsewhere during the last five and twenty years. With a tolerably intimate knowledge of the history of most of these undertakings, we can remember no instance of any railway, whether public or private property^ which, having obtained the authority to raise rapital by loan, has been enabled to dispense with that most seductive method of raising funds, by providing the capital from independent resources. We believe this instance to be altogether exceptional, and only requiring to be sufficiently known to place the credit of the Province on a par with that of the most wealthy countries of the world. The Council meets on Tuesday next, principally for the purpose of considering the advisability of voting a second sum of £50,0u0 for railway purposes. As the balance now standing to the credit of the Government is little less than £ 100,000, and the revenue still shows symptoms of keeping up its recent rate of increase, we imagine there will be little difference of opinion about devoting that sum to so useful a work.

We observe that the Committee of the Benevolent Asylum are advertising for a piece of land for a site for their proposed building. There was a good house last Bight at the Commercial towitnes9 Fawcett's Drawing-room Fntertainment, and the audience were, as usual, highly pleased and amused. In the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, Mr. South applied to his Worship on the subject of costs, representing that it was a great hardship to suitors that they should be obliged to pay their own lawyer's fees, &c, when they gained their cases. His Worship promised to gire the matter his consideration, and to make known to-day the decision he might arrive at. A meeting of persons liable to be rated in the North Harbor Road District, is to be held at Sawyer's Bay, on Friday, the Bth August. An advertisement on the subject will be found in another column.

Mr. Oalcutt has favored us with another letter, which in all conscience is strong enough. Perhaps as he has so large a knowledge of Supreme Court practice, he will be so good as to say whether it is not libellous to call an Editor a '• Donkey" and a " Calf," esj>ecially when the context supplies abundant evidence of malice "We should also be glad to know whether we ought not to bring under the notice of the Police Court, the implied threat of shooting us if found within the limits of his ground after dark. Not that in either case we have any idea of proceeding, as we arc sure when Mr. Calcutt recovers from the excitement he labors under, he will be at a loss to understand how he could pen such effusions as those he has favored us with. To satisfy our indignant correspondent we would refer him to some of the constables stationed in his neighborhood one of whom will probably tell him that he visited Mr. Caicutt's house on the night in question, and found some one at the open window, in a state of great excitement.. The com table may add that on enquiry this *ame occupant of the window told him that he heard some one trying the gate or window, and that he had let fly two barrels in thr; direction the noise came from. The constable may then mention that he made a minute starch and finding only a cow in the vicinity, came to the conclusion that the irreverent animal had been using Mr. Calcutta premises as one of the Duke of Argyle's favorite posts. H this be what Mr. Calcutt considers a retractation, we give him the b-nt-fir of it. at any rate it will supply him with information that will prevent his l>eing nonsuited in the legal proceedings he proposes to take. The cow U clearly the party he should proceed against —it is to be huped wags will not call it a wr-ardly action. Admirable as has been the production of "Rob R«>y" at the Theatre Royal, it has scarcely proved . string t!i<>u:a for a thirl per:brmanee. The , house was only thin last night, but the piece was , presented without any diminution in the excellence . of thear-ting. A!! the performers did justice to 5 their sevt-ral part.-, and gave complete satisfaction _ to the limitt.! audience. The pretty little after- . i">,:e of the- Match in the Dark concluded thu ; entertainment. In this Madame Duret sustained , the principal character, in her usual finished ; sty..-, while as Prudence M-Inyre Miss Matthews . caust-.I c:>;i>idernbli; amusement, by- her quaint r a>.-umpti..,ii of the- Scottish accent. Mr. Dale a3 . Vellum v.-as al>«j very good : nor must we forget - th" Irish servant. OTlinn. who was very , u;n::singly represented by Mr. O'Brien. We . wt-re pk-ns?-d t-j notice that our gentle hint . :d>out *• g:iL"_'ing '* had been taken, and that the - ■>M»-;-t!un:d.!e 3 ractice to which we adverted had

iicen diseoniimied. Shortly after <iu«k, last evening, a girl about ■ ight year* of age fell into the creek, nearly oppo--ite to the Au-tralasian Hotel, and had not immediate assistant- been at hand to rescue the child from the •jK-ri! she was in, there is little doubt but -he would have !«.-cn washed under some of the mui:iv \vi)«) kn tenements which are built over the creek, when it is more than probable she would not have leva extricated alive. There are sorue very dari-jerous openings in Madaga:an-street, which require to hj immediately covered over or *> barricaded a* tv prevent wayfarers after dark from nvjL-tinu: with accidents. L-ist nighr, a nvm, drank to insensibility, was f.'iiml sunk to the depth of his body in mud, at the upper end of Maclageran -street. An attempt was made tj remove the unfortunate to a place of safety, but he was found to be so encumbered with mud, and so helplessly inebriated, that all -ilnits to remove him were next to impossible. To rai-e his head from the mud, to prevent suffocation, and to send for the police and a conveyance to remove him, was all that stranger Samaritans could do for the man. and two hours elapsed before this was accomplished. Some very excellent lithographs, entitled •• Maori Sketches." have been drawn and lithographed by Mr. J. Brown, of London-street, Dunedin. They are intended to be struck off on letter pnper, to '.nable correspondents here to give to give their friends in distant parts of the world some idea of Maori life. If sufficiently encouraged, the artist purposes giving other striking scenes and incidents in Xew Zealand life. Grave suspicions are entertained that illicit distillation is a tiling- not altogether unknown in this district. The broken and hilly character of the country, the abundant supply of water, and the absence of police surveillance at even short distances f.om Dunedin, justify the supposition that such a practice may have long been carried on undetected. But there are circumstances which lead the officers in the Revenue Department to suspect the existence of illicit stills, and efforts will no doubt be made to trace out %'iw oitendcrs. "' We must all eat a peck of dirt before we die" was the reply which '•mine host'" returned to the complaint of a customer who grumbled that his dinner plate was covered with dirt. "Yes," was the rejoinder. " but we are not obliged to eat it all at one time." Analogous to this is the theory of the Town Board. "You shall not get your mud in instalments, but all at once,'' say they. And it is accomplished in this wise ! A number of laborers are set to work early each morning to scrape oft' the surface mud from the principal streets and thoroughfares. The mud is then made into heaps, and is generally placed at corners and crossings which careful and knowing pedestrians are in the habit of selecting as clean spots on their return home after dark. The result is a full plunge into three feet of pure unadulterated mud. Imprecations both loud and deep are nightly uttered by the incautious who liave been caught in what are now very appropriately termed the '"mud traps." An inquest was held yesterday, at the Dunedin Hospital, on the body of James Wilson, whose death was chronicled in our issue of yesterday. The coroner gave the necessary certificate for the burial of the deceased, but the inquest was adjourned for further evidence until the return of the s. s. Lord Worsley to die Tort. The jury were bouad over for fourteen days to appear ■when called upon.

The Li/lteltonTimes of July 26 says—" We have recently glanced over the census tables, published on the 27th ult,, in the New Zealand " Gazette," and were struck by an anomaly revealed in tin; distribution of the electoral power as it affects th-j House of Representatives. It is shown that there are 22,926 adult males in this island, who return only 14 members ; whilst 11,309 adult males in the A'orth Island send 29- members to the House of Representatives. In other words 389 men in the North Island posses as lan»e a power in the state, as is permitted to 1637 men in the Middle Island! Tins is a crying injustice, and its correction will, no doubt, be at once demanded by the representatives of the South Island, "