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Otago Daily Times, Issue 2461, 25 December 1869, Page 2

It was arranged yesterday by the Government that the Treasurership vacant by the resignation of Mr M' Lean should be filled by Mr Reid insteadof by Mr Gillies, as originally contemplated. The reason of this alteration is, we believe, that His Honour, when informed of the original arraagemant, objected to it, on the ground that his consent had not beer, obtained in the first instance. Mr Gillies then agreed to resign the office, which he had undertaken to hold because his colleague, Mr Duncan, had declined it, and because the Executive were of opinion that it should not be offered to any one outside their own body. Mr Reid thereupon consented to act as Treasurer, and on his name being submitted to His Honour, he expressed his satisfaction with the arrangement.

Those who are desftous of having a "a day out" to day, have several opportunities of doing so enjoyably provided for them by the Harbour Steam Company. The Wallace is announced to leave at 10.30, for the Maori Kaik and Heads, and will be accompanied

by Pieury's band. The Golden Age and Peninsula, also, will leave for Portobello and Port Chalmers at 10.30 a.m and 2 p.m. At the Port a great attraction is offered in the shape of an impromptu Regatta between boats belonging to the various ships in harbour and those of the Government and Naval Brigade/ - The fTame3 Nicol Fleming will be the flagship on the occasion, and it is intended to make a start as soon as possible after 11 o'clock;

Yesterday evening, being Christmas Eve, was kept in the usual style. A band pa. faded the town during the evening, and the footpaths were thronged with strollers and heads of * families making purchases for Christmas. The drapery establishments presented a brilliant appearance, and most of the other shops were decorated with green branches. The hotels, and the butchers', grocers', fruitsellera', and confectioners' shops were well filled '"with customers. The toyshops were full, trumpets were in great demand, and musicians without number could be heard in Princes ■ street. At the new jetty there was a transparency which was suspended by ropes to the masts of the vessels: ph either; side. It looked very well from Princeß street, but distance lent enchantment to the view, for upon closer examination it and its legend looked very shabby indeed." Several of the vessels had their mastheads and bowsprits ornamented with green boughs, and rockets were fired and coloured fires displayed daring the evening.

The appointment of Chief. Detective Thomson to an Inspectorship in the Armed Constabulary under Mr Commissioner Branigan has already been notified. We have now much pleasure in stating that an address to be presented to that gentleman has been s gnedby the Speaker of the Provincial Council and a large number of the members of that body. We understand that, it is also intended to afford an opportunity to the public generally to sign the document, should there be sufficient time to do so before Mr Thomson's departure. There can be no doubt that, if thia be done, the address will be very numerously signed, as Mr Thomson during his residence in Banedin has gained the esteem and confidence of all classes. The following is a copy of the address referred to :—" To John Bell Thomson, Esq., in charge of the osago Detective Police Force:—Sir—We, the undersigned, members of the Provincial Council of Ofcago, and other residents in the Province, desire to express our sense of the valuable services rendered by you during a period of nearly four years in connection with the Detective Force of thia Province ; and to assaro you that you carry with you to another and more enlarged sphere of operation our earnest desiree that your services ,in future (as in the past) may prove alike beneficial to the public and creditable to yourself.—We are," &c. (Here follow the signatures.)

The present population of the Thames goldfield is estimated by the Advertiser, somewhat vaguely, at "between 15,000 and 20,000."

Messrs ■: M'Landress,: Hepburn, and Co sold yesterday the booths for the Caledonian Gathering on the Ist and 3rd proximo, the following being the prices realised :—Nos. 1 and 2, to Mr H. Walter, for L 22 10s; No, 3, to Mr H. Friedlich, for L 9; Nos. 4 and 5, to Mr J. Collins, for LSO; Nos 5 and 6, to Mr C. Moore, for L 35 ; Nos 8 and 9, to Mr J. C. Galloway, for L 34 j and No 10, to MrH. Greig, forLls.

It is notified in the New Zealand Gazette of the 18th inst., that Sir David Monro and MrJ. Jfi. Fitzgerald have been re appointed Governors of the New Zealand Institute, and that Dr Knight has been appointed in the room of Colonel Haultain, who has retired. The same issue of the Gazette contains the following notifications :—-His Excellency the Governor hai accepted Mr W. Carr Young's resignation of bis appointment as a Justice of the Peace for the colony.—Drs Huime, Alexander, and Hockenhave been appointed by ths Governor to constitute a Medical Board, under the Military Pensions Act. 1866.—-Letters of naturalisation have been issued in favour of Mr Lahman Hayman, merchant, Dunedin.—The school-house, Mimihau, has beea appointed an additional polling place for the district of Clutha, for the election of the Superintendent and members of the Provincial Council.

The public sittings of the Resident Magistrate's Court hay« beea adjourned till the sth of January.

The leading Wellington paper states that there is every prospect that the local steam navigation company will not be allowed entirely to lapse, a provisional committee having been formed, whose object is to start a' new company, offering, in the first place, to purchase the plant of the N.Z S.N. Company at ah equitable price, or failing that, to purchase entirely new vessels, with all the latest improvements.: Should the offer for the purchase of the plant of the N.Z.B.N. Company te accepted, shareholders will be invited to exchange their shares on favourable terms. With the experience gained in the ■working of the present company it may fairly be concluded that there is every prospect of the new company being a success.

The Duke of Edinburgh seems to have given great offence during his late visit to the Sandwich Islands. The circumstance which, caused this result is thus related by a correspondent of the Alta California:—On Monday the Duke and several of his officers dined with the King, and His Royal Highness expressed a wish to see a huhua, and on iuesdayone Was given by the Governor, attended by the King and Dowager Queen, but no white people, aside from the officers of the ship, and many half-caste ladies, who were .married to Europeans, were invited, and their husband^ left out? The disgraceful and obscene hulahula dance being part of the programme, the Englishmen who hoisted their flag with pride on the arrival of the Prince, lowered it with disgust. It is a lasting disgrace that an English ship of war, fitted in a most costly manner, commanded by an English Prince, should visitthese Christianised lands, and the only question asked was to see the hulahula. The missionaries feel not a little hurt that a Prince from Christian England could treat them so. The Grey River Argus understands that the Bank of New Zealand has positively refused to allow the overdraft to the County Council to be further increased. It now amounts to something like LISOO, and waa to have been LIO.OOO, so that a large number of liabilities must yet remain unpaid.

It will be remembered that a reward was offered some time ago by the proprietors of Humbug, a comic paper published in Melbourne, to any spiritualist who could, within a fixed period, give the words of a certain sentence written on a piece of paper, and en-

trusted to the safe keeping of the manager of one of the banks. As at the expiration of the stated time for the experiment no one had succeeded in the task, the sentence was published. It was taken from Disraeli's "Ixion in Heaven," and tuns thus:—" I have seen the world and more than the world; I have studied the heart of man, and now I consort''with immortals. The fruit of my tree of knowledge is plucked, and it is this : 'Adventures are to the Adventurous.' Written in the album of Minerva,—By Ixion in HsaveN;" Not one of the answers received was pertinent.

"Lady Audley's Secret,"-and " Blaekeyed Susan," were successfully performsd at the Princess Theatre last riighti to a~good house. On Monday evenmg, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," with the excellent music of Bishop and Weber, will be performed, and will no doubi; attract a large audience. The performances will conclude with a grand comic pantomime.

The Provincial Government Offices will not open to-day nor on Monday.

The Rev A. R. Fitcheiit will preach in the Masonic Hall to-morrow moraing and evening.—The Rev J. Thomson will pleach in the Presbyterian Church, ST. E. Valley, to-morrow morning and evening, and every Sunday until further notice.

The second fortnightly meeting of the Commercial Building and Mutual Investment Society will be held on Tuesday evening next, from 6 to 8 o'clock.", .

The picnic party of the Dunedin Private Musical Society mil-leave the old jetty at 9 a.m on Monday.

The Oomtniitee of the Otago Benevolent Institution acknowledge, by advertisement, d >nations in aid of the chirity from the following persons :—Mr W. Sinclair's workmen; Messrs D. Borrie, West Taieri; James Logan, G-reen Vale, Pomahaka.;, John Healey, Abbotsford, West Taieri ; Tomlinson and Co, Dunedin; James Christie, Portobello; R. Chapman, Punedia; and from "Masonic," per W. W. W,

A cricket match will be played on Monday, between an eleven of the Duuedin Club, and twenty-two of the Citizens' Club. Wicket's will be pitched at 11.30 a.m.

A general meeting of the Shareholders of tie Forbury Park Company, will be held at the Empire Hotel on the 31st ins*., at 7.30 p.m.

The Oddfellows' Fete will take place 'at Vauxhall on Monday next, being Boxing Day. Brethren of the M.U.L0.0.F. are requested to muster at 10.30 on Monday miming at the Oddfellows' Hall, to join in the procession, which starts at 11 o'clock. Brethren of Court Enterprise, A.0.F., No. 3 990, are requested to meet at the Royal George Hotel, at 10 a.m., on the same day, for the same object. The United Otago District, A.0.F., are also to meet at the District Chambers, with the same object.