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Otago Daily Times, Issue 670, 10 February 1864, Page 4

"The Somnambulist" was repeated last evening, at the Princess Theatre, to a moderate house. Miss Julia Matthews, as Amina, confirmed the good impressions which she had made on her first appearance in that

character

Tenders are invited by the General Government for Steam Service for the conveyance of the mails for one year, terminable by three months notice; viz., for a steamer to leave Otago on the first Monday in May, and to proceed to Manukau via Lyttelton, Wellington, Picton, Nelson, and Taranaki, and leaving. Manukau on the third Monday in May to return to Otago by the same route, and so on, making the voyage every four •weeks. And for steamers to leave on the second, third, and fourth Mondays in May, each proceeding as above stated. For a steamer to leave the Bluff on the first Tuesday in May, and to proceed thence to Auckland via Otago, Lyttelton, Wellington, and Napier ; leaving Auckland on the third Thursday in May, and proceeding back to the Bluff by the same route, performing the voyage every four weeks. And for steamers to leave the Bluff on the second, third, and fourth Tuesdays in May, pursuing the same route. The specific conditions on which tenders will be received are fully detailed in the advertisement in our advertising columns.

A meeting for the transfer of Publicans' Licenses will be held at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, the Ist March next, at noon.

Afi inquiry into the origin of the late great fire in Stafford street and Hope street was commenced yesterday afternoon, by Dr Hocien, Coroner. The jury assembled at Harding's Union Hotel, Stafford street, and Mr James Miller was chosen foreman. Some officers of the police force, including SubInspector Percy, were examined; as was also Mr Edward Holmes, storeman to Messrs Hart. It turns out from this witness's evidence, that he was in the store within an hour and a quarter of the discovery. His account of why he went will be found in our report elsewhere; from which it will be seen also that Holmes was flatly contradicted by another witness in one important statement. The inquiry stands adjourned until to-morrow' afternoon.

The Committee of the Church of England Cemetery have issued a notice that after this week all funerals must be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday of each week, at 11 o'clock a.m., and on Wednesdays at 2 o'clock p.m. No interme^s will take place on Sundays.

The annual meeting of the Ilunil Deanery Board of Otago and Southland will be held in Dunedin on Thursday, February 18th, at half-past twelve o'clock. There will be morning prayers in St. Paul's Church on the same day at eleven o'clock, and Sacrament will be afterwards administered.

An inquest was held last evening, at Waters's Octagon Hotel, by the coroner, Dr. Hocken, on the body of George Hutchinsou, who was killed on Monday afternoon by a fall of earth in the cutting at Moray Place. The following evidence was given :—Thomas Gibson, sub-con tractor under Messrs Lonnie, Geggie, and Co. : I have been engaged laboring on public works for 30 years. Yesterday afternoon, about half-past three, the deceased and another man were engaged in " holing" for a fall of earth in Moray Place. They had left three " legs'' at first, aud then picked out the middle leg. The deceased did this, and then each of them began at an end leg. The other man got done first and went on to the top of the bank to see if it was cracking, and struck his pick to cut a notch to put in a pile. I was watching at one end, and seeing that the fall was coming, I sung out to the deceased, who had about a minute and a half's wor,k to do. , He was stooping to his work, and when I shoute d, instead of stepping back —for two feet would have cleared him—he ran out, but had not got more than two yards and a half before the mass fell and buried him. We got him out almost directly and carried him to the Hospital. He never spoke, but " kind, of made a bit of a groan," and blood ran from his nostrils. In half an hour or so, after we left him at the Hospital, word was brought that he was dead. The plan we adopted is a proper one in such work. Generally it is necessary to drive j piles at the top to bring down the earth; but tlrs came down unexpectedly. There is danger to the men in getting out the "legs," tor the soil will have different veins, and | sometimes it comes down before the "holing lis half done." I've seen many accidents in my time. A man is set to watch lest there should a slip, and sometimes two, if- the soil is very dangerous. This soil is good and has all along stood well to this time. I was looking out yesterday, and when I saw the crack occur very suddenly, I shouted out so sharp, that I fear I frightened the deceased a bit. There is a seven feet or eight feet face. The man on the top could not see the crack so well as I could, because there was grass* on it. I know no more of the deceased than that he had been working for me for about six weeks.—Edward Wright corroborated, generally, the previous witness. He added—the first tiling I noticed while on the top was the grass crackling beneath me, and that I had one foot on the Ml and the other on the solid. Before I could do so, the last witness called out, aud I sang out " Stand from under," and fell backwards, dropping my pick. The work is carried on very carefully in this cutting, and I have not seen anything like this fall during my four weeks' work there. It would only be owing to the rottenness of this particular piece of ground. Ido not know anything of the deceased, except that I worked with him, off and on, for four weeks. Martin Buckley, labourer, said he first knew the deceased about eighteen months ago. He was about thirty years old, and was unmarried. He believed the deceased was a native of some part of England; he lived in a tent in Eilleul-street.—A verdict of " Accidental death" was returned.

The "New Zealander" has the following with reference to the manner in which the natives obtain their supplies of gunpowder :

—"It may be said, ' Why call attention now to matters that are passed and gone.' Our .attention has been recently directed to the subject by a correspondent at Wangaroa. The district of Mangonui is one in which the natives are professedly friendly. Those who know them Lest have great doubts of the reality of their loyalty ; and we are informed by our correspondent that large quantities of powder and other contraband stores are still obtained from whalers off the coast in the following manner :—The whalers keep clear o the harbour, as under the walls of the Custom-house would not be the most eligible place for their operations. They obtain from the shore what stores the require in small cutters, and freight them in return with the various " notions" a " skipper" generally carries under the miscellaneous name of " trade.' Among these "notions," powder and munitions of war, are not, we may be sure, omitted. There are along the coast innumerable small harbors in which these vessels can land such parts of their cargo as it would not be safe ' to bring to port. Iv this way the Maories are supplied with powder, and in this way a very safe and lucrative traffic is carried on. That jit is lucrative there can be no doubt; that it is safe is proved by the tenacity with which the Maories keep possession ot every pound of powder that comes into their hands. Formerly, our correspondent tells us, the settlers could frequently purchase powder from the Maories; now they never can get any. Formerly the Maories themselves were liable to betray any illicit dealer in powder ; now they guard his secret with the utmost care. We mention the case of Mangonui in particular, because our correspondent has called our attention to it. But it is well known that all along the' East Coast, the same proceedings are going on ; the Maoris arc in like manner provided with the munitions of war. Surely one of our men-of-war would be most usefully employed on the coast, in watching and putting an end to this nefarious traffic. It is only by a strong arm, and energetic measures, that it can be put down. The trade is, as we have said, a. most lucrative one, and as long as it is so, plenty ot unprincipled men will ba found to engage in it. Our correspondent says that the Macries never go out pigeonshooting now, though pigeons are most abundant. Of course they do not; they are keeping their powder for the chance of higher game. One cannot expect that the ordinary run of Maories should take otherwise than a very narrow view of their relations to the Pakeha. They think that the possession of powder and guns is in itself an element of strength, They think that it is the secret of the Pakeha's superiority to themselves. Hence they aye willing to part with every thing that is saleable to enable them to purchase powder, they arc already well provided with. As long as they labor under this delusion, they will stiil cling to the belief of their ability to measure their strength with ours. Our duty clearly is to do all in our power to preveut them from obtaining those warlike stores, the possession of which is so injurious.

The inaugural public meeting of the Dunedin Abstainers Union was held last evening at the Oddfellows' Hall, Mr A. Rennie, M.P.C., in the chair. The following gentlemen were also on the platform :— The Rev. W. Johnstone, Messrs Bouchier, Clarke, Clayton senr., Cay ton junr., Roy, J»g°> Watson, Galloway, Wood and Hamilton, The Chairman explained the object of the meeting, and spoke at considerable length in favor of the movement. Mr Jago moved the first resolution, and said that in doing so he was supplying the place of the Rev. D.M. Stuart, who was to have been present, but who was prevented by illness. The resolution ran as follows;-" That in the opinion of this meeting the drunkenness of a people is in proportion to the prevalence amongst them of social drinking habits and the facilities afforded for obtaining intoxicating liquor; and that social and moral debasement characterises every community amongst whom intemperance prevails. That this meeting, therefore, views with considerable alarm the very general observance of drinking customs in society here, and the wide-spread and increasing growth of the traffic in strong drink, and believes it to constitute an evil loudly calling for actively remedial measures." He enlarged on the ideas contained in the resolution, and referred to instances where men had fallen from a high position in society through drink, as well as where they had been raised from infamy to a respectable position in life by its abandonment. He remarked that nearly onfrhalf of the Customs' revenue was "derived from the importation of intoxicating liquors, and predicted the most ' fearful consequences to • the community if steps were not taken to arrest the growing evil of drunkenness. Mr John Hislop seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Rev. W. Johnstone proposed the second resolution, "That although the mass of society has been and still is unwilling .entirely to'abandon the use of alcoholic liquors, yet from a very early'period to the present time the evils of intemperance have been felt and acknowledged, and efforts have been made to a modification of the drinking customs by substituting one form of the intoxicating agent for another, and by regulating in a variety of ways traffic in intoxicating liquors, to counteract and restrain the evil, while yet retaining the'use of that which is the main active cause in its production; but .that in the opinion of this meeting all these ■'efforts have failed in accomplishing to any extent the purpose for which they were de- . signed.*' He advocated total suppression of the sale of intoxicating liquors as the only means of putting a stop to the prevailing drunkenness, and would only have spirits used as a medicine. ■ Mr Clark seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr Bouchier moved the third resolution—" That in theopinion of this meetingno means which stop, short of. the entire abolition of social drinking customs, and the entire abolition of the traffic in intoxicating beverages, will be sufficient fbr the removal from society of the : drunkenness which it has now so greatly to deplore; and that the universal adoption of ;the. principles and practice of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors as beverages would be conducive to the highest well .being of the state." He gave his experience as a teetotaller of 23 years standing, a great ■ part of which time he had spent at sea, and t^as enabled to state that intoxicating liquors were not only not of use but were positively -injurious. In Canada, twelve years ago, a great deal of intemperance prevailed, but the efforts; of Temperance Societies had been crowned with great success, and drinking in that colony was now scarcely ever carried to excess. Every public house was obliged there to close at 8 o'clock on Saturday evening and was not allowed to reopen till the following Monday morning at 8 o'clock. Besides these regulations, during the days of the elections all taverns were closed, and every week inspectors visited all the houses, to see that they were properly conducted. In addition to these precautions licenses were very sparely granted, and he hoped to see the same course taken in this colony. He blamed the clergy for want of activity in the cause, but be attributed it to the fact that they were not abstainers themselves. The Chairman in reference to the last remark said that at the last meeting of the Presbytery a committee had been appointed to investigate the causes of this vice, but he did not think they had been as active as they might have been. The Rev. W. Johnstone remarked 'thii in the church he had the honor to belong to" there were several total abstainers, but that in Dunedin there was only one minister that was a total abstainer. Mr Watson seconded the resolution, which was carried. Mr Eva moved the fourth resolution :—" That combined and vigorous action is necessary for the propagation of the truths embodied in the foregoing .resolutions: That the circumstances of the case and the importance of the principles involved justify the organisation of the Dune- , din Abstainers' Union, and that this meeting pledges itself to give that instil ution cordial . support in every legitimate effort for the creation of a public opinion antagonistic to tlie prevailing social drinking customs, and in favour of the restraint and suppression of the traffic in intoxicating liquors." Mr Galloway seconded, and the resolution was adopted. After some remarks from Mr J. G. S. Grant, the business of the meeting was brought to a close, and a pledge book opened. The customary vote of thanks to the chair concluded the proceedings.