The Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1881.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5938, 19 February 1881, Page 2

The Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1881.

Whatever may be thought of the expulsion of the Irish obstructionists from the British Bouse, of. Commons, as.a measure of policy, it has been at least temporraily successful. Order has been observed in the House ever since ; the Irish Coercion Bill passed its second '■' reading' by a majority of 300, and has made conaiderable progress in Co"mrhUtee ; and Mr Paknell has been absent from the House for a week, paying a visit, as is reported, to Paris. The fullest particulars we have of the expulsion are contained in a'special message to a Melbourne journal, under date 4th inst., and couched in the following terms :—

Tte Conssrvatlves are entirely in harmony with the Government endeavours to put a stop to the continued obstruction of the Home Rulers. RlrFinnigan.memberforEnniß.havinr obstructed the proceedings of the House, was .. expeLed, and 27 remaining Home Rulers refusing to quit their seats, were thereupon named by the Speaker, End likewise expelled. Dillon was expelled for Interrupting Rfr Gladstone, and Parnell and Finnigan were expelled Individually for persisting in proposing that Mr Gladstone ba net heard. Twenty-eight Home Kule members were then expelled In a block for refusing to leave their seats and go into the lobby during the division, and five others were expelled for individually interrupting Mr Glad, stone. These members "did not follow the example of_ Parnell and Dillon.. by offering forcible resistance, but all withdrew from the Chamber upon being touched by the Sergeant, at-arms. It Beems, from other accounts, that the expulsion took place on a motion of Mr Gladstone giving the Speaker, entire control of the House when a measure was declared "urgent." The Coercion Bill was declared urgent, and then ensued tho scene described above. Disgraceful a3 were the proceedings which led to this extreme measure, it must have been with supreme regret that Mr Gladstone proceeded to such an extremity. Statesmen of all shades of opinion have always been extremely unwilling to take any action that would limit the freedom of Parliamentary debate. Whenever the French- system" of " cloture "has been discussed it has always been with a conIt g«"i ee i ? f leWß™™* towards It. But the cloture » merely declares a discussion closed, and does not deprlvT a member of his vote. There is some hLg In the sound of■ the word "expulsion," W ./ SH gge utlVe of strong lihSL * a T^ ority repressing individual Pf ais«ng in urging "that Mr Gladstone be not heard " They were therefore simply "hoist with their of WHhif rd f A\ era". the curtailment of liberty of speech was not so great as it at first appeared. Evidently by Mr Parnelxs promise to renew the fight in the House and. the : : telegram which refrom the House for a W e e k, the expulsion could, only have had: effect for one sitting • and though of course, it would have bee°n repeated had the obstruction been repeated there was apparently nothing to prevent any of these Home Rulers voting on the second reading, which only took place on the .Bth, or.taking part in the subsequent discussion in Committee, and using all regular methods of debate in opposing the measure. The collapse of the opposition after the expulsion is remarkable, and what isstill more remarkable, is thegenerally improved state of affairs in Ireland ofiwhich; we have since heard. Rents we , ; are:- toldj' are being paid much better,- and terrorism has been checked and: altogether there Beems to ha a prospect that a very moderate Instalment ~of coercion will bring the blatant agitators to th'eirsenses. Thereare," lndeed, terrifying reports of Fenian plots in various parts pf ; England to destroy arsenals,. c or even to-blow. up. Windsor Castle, but these are .only bogies "fi^to pcaro old women. - These " fiddling thingß,': as Cromwell used tp'dall them f^ m. cT a. °fft^ if: doirgenerally fail,of their object. .We,must acknowledge that -i Mr-, Giadstone -has ahbwn jE[reat firmness .fn .dealing with' this most momentous, question of reducing Ireland to obedience, and he has been nobly supported by the Conservatives. Though' the majority, for the second reading of the Coercion Bill was 300, in a House of about" 060 i members all told, the number was largely swelled by Conservative votes, and .there must have been a large number of English Radicals who voted against the measure^ spite of the strong support given to it by Mr Bright. . If, as is projbable, 600 members either voted or paired,tliememberßTOld be 450 for and 150 against, to.produce a majority of 300. There is room for difference of .opinion about • everything, and though Barely but few Englishmen could' be found willing, to hand over Ireland altogether to the Irish, some ri6 doubt nold that a, reform of the land laws, phich they, regard as urgently needful, .ought to take precedence of coercion. 'We are among those who believe that no reform is 1 possible till the law is made triumphant over anarchy and terrorism, and-' events seem all tending towards the correctness of this conclusion. ;When the Coercion Bill is actually in 'operation, the Land League will find that thereisa power in the. land superior to 'secret plotters and midnight assassins, and. when the Land Bill is introduced, ; then the substantial measure of relief to |be afforded to the tenants by a British [Parliament will begin to be appreciated ;by the Irish people.

iln our supplement we publish a sensible ;letter in reply to some remarks of our , evening contemporary about the applestealing cases. _That__y.ery respectable i journal, moved apparently by some sense 11 of regret that the cases in question had | not ; been noticed by it in the ordinary ; course., of ... its duty, now calls the [indignant^feelings,. „'aroused. in the ; public mind by the Daily Times' ac- ; count of what took placß "false sympa;thy" and " maudlin Hentimentality,"

We are convinced that nine out °* ten who have read those rem*l^ 8 would feel how utterly tmjustifia^e ,^ey were. There can •be ho question whatever that the charge '; as' brought before Mr Watt was not ono of j carrying away sacksfull of apples—a crime of a very different character altogether from a mere boyish freak —but the very trivial one of which most boys have been guilty at some time in their lives, and of which we venture to think Mr Watt himself has been guilty, namely—the taking as many apples as they;could eat. The owner of the orchard could not say that he had lost a shilling's worth, though the information placed the value of the apples stolen at five shillings. We know that, as one letter which appeared in our columns pointed out, there are cases where wholesale robbery of fruit has been committed, amounting to many pounds in value, but we believe these -robberies are r often committed by men, and never by very young boys, like those' who were brought before Mr Watt on the occasion referred to. Wholesale robbery should of course be severely punished. But the cases referred to by our report—a report the accuracy of which has never been questioned—were of a totally different character, and the Magistrate showedby his subsequent, conduct that.he himself knew he had gone too far. He greatly mitigated the punishment inflicted, released one of the boys immediately, and consented to the others being licensed out to their parents, almost at once, and when further cases werebroughtforward agreed to their being withdrawn, with the announcement that, for his part, he thought it was quite sufficient for complainants in such cases to take the law into their own hands, and give the boys a thrashing. As our correspondent " Puritan" very properly points out, .the absurdity of the original. sentence was heightened by Mr Watt releasing a boy who pleaded guilty, and saying that he " would give him the benefit of the doubt;" while as regards two of the boys who were convicted, there was both direct and indirect evidence • that they had never been in the garden at all, but only on the fence. There was-from the first no attempt on the part of the guilty ones to conceal their offence ; they confessed it, and gave their names, and thereby showed that they were not mere larrikins. The whole proceedings were an outrage on common sense, and indicated a temporary aberration of intellect on the parb of the Magistrate, onwhich we might have juatly commented far more severely than we did. We are quite convinced that the evil of fruit-stealing is not.to be put down by severe penalties being inflicted on little boys for a comparatively trivial offence. When sacks are taken into a garden, and trees stripped wholesale, then, we admit, the thing wears a totally different aspect. "Eat what you can, but carry nothing away," appears to be roughly the rule on which the judgment of society would be framed in this matter. Even the minor offence deserves a mild flogging, but the major offence is a' much niore serious evil, and : would not be committed as a rule for mere'adventure's sake, or by any boys not of the larrikin class. If a magistrate cannot distinguish between such differences as these, what does he sit in the seat of justice for ? If in the instances to which we have called attention he has brought the law into contempt, and opened a loophole for hardened offenders, that is only a natural consequence of ill-timed severity. We shall certainly not lift up our voice to defend from just punishment boys or men caught taking fruit away by sacksfull, but we do object to comparatively inoffensive little boys being punished vicariously for the offences of these hardened sinners.

Mr James Fulton has dono good service in making the statement he did at the meeting of the Education Board on Thursday regarding the statistics of cost of school buildings and management in the different Provincial districts. We are not, as our readers well know, at all disposed to raise provincial cries, or foster local jealousies, but the division' of the vote of last year for school buildings was so manifestly unfair to Otago that it was only natural it should lead to an investigation. It will be remembered that out of school buildings vote Otago and Canterbury get only £6000 each, while Auckland got £14,000, and yeif the official statements 'of the requirements of the three districts were, it now appears, nearly equal. The statements of the amounts per scholar received during the three previous years in each of : the respective districts for school buildings is very striking. Ifc stands as follows:—Auckland, £6-4; North Canterbury, £4 2; Otago, £3 8. Can it be said after this that Auckland is still behind Otago in school accommodation 1 If sp, the old Provincial Government of Auckland must have been very neglectful of its duty. But turnings to. the .cost, of management we find that, it is .far and away heavier in Auckland than in the other, two districts mentioned, the figures for-1879 being : For Auckland, 5s 6sd per'scholar; for North Canterbury, 2s 4£d; and for Otago, only 1b ,B£d. There is evidently something wrong, therefore, in tba Auckland management, and we are stroDgly inclinedtio think that a commission ought to.be appointed to inquire into this and other matters connected with the cost of our primary education. Wooden school build;ings in Auckland, it seems, coat nearly as much' per foot of floor space as brick and stone buildings in Otago. No doubt the blot has been hit by Mr Fulton, when hey describes the number of small schools in the Auckland district— 44 schools; having an attendance of under 15, and 25 of under 20, and no.doubt many of these of tender years. This is; carrying State education to the point of absurdity;;! What is wanted in sparselypppulated districts is a peripatetic school-, master, who can assemble the children of a few settlers in the morning in the house of one of them, and a few more In another spot in the afternpqn. To erect schoolrooms and provide teaching staff for so small a number as 15 children is beyond all reason. These 69 small schools Mr Bego describes as one-third of the whole number of ■ schools in the Auckland district. If the school age was raised to a minimum of seven years, as it ought to be, there probably, would not be 10; children in any of these schools, and the coat to the State of educating them would be many pounds-per head. We hope Mr Fulton will not let, this matter drop, but make such representations to the Minister of Education as will lead to a thorough investigation. The whole educational system of the Colony is in danger of breaking down through its enormous expense, and we now begin to see where a good deal .of., the money has gone. If the State system is to continue, it can only.be on lines of strict economy, and we should be inclined to raise the standard below which no school would be established in any country district at Stato expense to' 30 scholars at least. Let the "hedge 'schoolmaster" have a chance. ~ ■ >

As we cannot absolutely rely upon telegraphic summaries of figures, we have deferred comment on the bank returns published in our telegraphic columns on Saturday last till the arrival of.the Gazette. A few slight corrections have, we find, to be made, and we now iefer our readers to our usual comparative statement of the last three 'quarters' returns, as published in another 'column. It will be observed that deposits show a: steady increase under ;each head —at interest; at call; and ! Government -deposits, the latter showing jthe largest increase, .and indicating, no •doubt, that by means of land-sales and jadvances: ; obtained ;on debentures, : the ■Treasury, is for the present in an easy ;condition. The total increase under the ;head of deposits is £369,986. Thead!vancesj for the' first'time for about'two

years, show a slight increase, but only to the extent of £77,530. But the increase is entirely under the head of: " other advances," the discounts* having decreased by £153,090. This implies a continued contraction of ordinary trade operations, and a tendency on the part of the Banks to seek an outlet for their surplus funds in other directions. The note circulation shows a slight increase, and the coin and bullion a slight decrease. Taking the capital and reserves of the New Zealand banks in round figures at £2,500,000, and adding this to the liabilities, we find an excess of assets over liabilities of £1,300,000, which, if we assumed that the capital of the New Zealand Banks is all in use' in the Colony, might fairly be taken to represent the sum being used within the Colony by the Australian. Banks in excess of their deposits. This.is less by about a million than in June last year. Never were the Banks in so strong a position to afford legitimate help to commerce as they are at present. We can but expect a corresponding revival in trade through the coining-year, -aa every Bank agent throughout New Zealand will be eager to take any business that, offers reasonable security and promise of success. This state of affairs is not without its dangers, but we think we may rely on the wisdom of our Bank directors and managers to keep enterprise within prudent limits. At present the financial public seems inclined to err on the side of over-caution. Let us remind our readers that in March, 1879, fche advances were £13,972,486, and the deposits £9,148,363; while in December, 1880, the advances were £10,907,040, and the deposits £9,011,855. In the first period the advances were four million eight hundred thousand pounds beyond the deposits;, in the second period they were only.one million nine.>.hundred thousand pounds beyond the deposits. How.vast a revolution does, this represent in a period of one year and nine months, and in a Colony with less than half a millionI'inhabitants. Differing as we do from Mr Bathgate in our view of the generally beneficial character of the change, we nevertheless recognise a very significant proof of the soundness of our commercial men in a great centre of population like Dunedinj that all this drawing in has been effocted without disaster, in fact, almost without our knowing it.. Wellington and Christchurch have felt the pinch, but Auckland and Dunedin hardly

Our supplement to-day contains Passing Notes, sporting intelligenca, the draft of the bill for the establishment of an Australasian Court of Appeal, Oar Imports for 1879, letters to the editor, a description of improvements at Port Chalmers, Our American Letter, a eketch of Gibraltar, and a number of-interesting articles on various subjects. :

. The Tapanui School Committee have voted f or-Messrs Shand,. Elder, and Begg; the Fairfax Committee for Messrs Begg, Shand, arid Eider ; i<ad. the - Portobello Committee for Mesars Shand, Robin, and Elder, as members of the Education Board.

Some rowing matches, between members of the Working Men's Club, took place near the Rattray street Jetty on Thursday evening. The first heat was between A. Nichol and R. Hatchinsonj and—M'Kenzie and—Buchanan. Nichol and Hutchison won easily. The second heat fell to Kennard and Wilson, their opponents being Baylies and Levy. The final heat was clo3e, and resulted in Nichol and HutchiBon'bealihg Kennard and Wilson by half a .length. -: -'■■■

The third number of Mesara G. R. West and Co.'s New Zaaland Musical Magazine U cer: tainly the best one of the periodical yet pub. lished. Id is a dance album containing 46 pages of superior dance music, and the manner in which it is got up does infinite credit to the publishers, .Messrs.Metzler and Co., London. The contents include a singing quadrille on aira from Bizet's opera "Carmen," C. Godfrey's "Fancy Ball Qaadrille," three, waltzss by Waldtenfel. polkas by Johann Sfcranss,' Fahrback, and Marie, a Highland schottiscke, country dances, reels, and strathspeys. The faot that: the album containa waltzes by Waldtenfel ought alone to be the means of procuring for it an extensive sale. The "Forget-me-not Waltz' 1 is written in a nica flowing style, and is equal to any of the author's previous productions; and the "Carmen Waltz" is arranged in a thoroughly original, manner. The other waltz by Waldtenfel is the "Madrid." The "Carmen Qaadrille" contains some of the best of Bizat's airs, and we have not the slightest doubt as to its becoming at once popular. Strauss' polka is the " Pizzicato," the performance of which is calculated to bring to the recollection of hearers in a forcible mannoc the pizzicato playing of stringed instruments. Those by Fahrback and Marie are the " Tout a la joie " and the now well-known "La Pergola." The reels, strathspeys, and country dance 3at the end of the album will no doubt be acceptable to a large number of people, and make the collection of dance tune 3 ofEered to the public most complete. Violin or cornet accompaniments to the pieces the album contains caa be obtained, anJ septett band parta are also published.'

Join Cooney, for the robbery of L 4 from the person of Andrew Sexton, and Thomas Emley, for being an accessory, were each sentenced to six months'imprisonment by Mr Watt, R.M., yesterday, r The charge against Cooney was heard in Court a w«ek ago, but the case was remanded till Emley could be produced. Saxton, who is a labouring man, had been drinking with the two accused on February 3rd at the Terminus Hotel; Coming up Rattray street, about 9 p.m., Cooney took a purse with the Bum mentioned out of prosecutor's'pocket and ran away with it, whilst Emley prevented prosecutor from following, first by threatening, and then by knocking him down. These were' the main features in the case. The money was not recovered, although" both prisoners were searched shortly after 11 o'clock. ' . '

A man named William Murphy met with a severe accident about 1 a.m. yesterday. He was on his way down the Export Pier, Port Chalmers, to {the barque Frederick Basßfl, by which vessel he was about leaving for New? castle, when by some means his foot became entangled in the points, and in trying to extricate himself, the bone broke above the ankle. He was taken by two of his companions and Constable - Young to the George Hoteli where the broken limb was set by Dr Drysdale. : ~-';/

, For having an unstamped scale and weights in his possession, Charles Bierstorf wot yesterday, at the Police Court, fined Is and costs, and the articles were forfeited; : ■

The editor of the Saturday Advertiser in. forms us that the mistake in crediting a portion of one of our articles to the Bruce Standard, to which we alluded yesterday, was the result of that journal appropriating our remarks without acknowledgment. -

We understand that the report of the Land Commissioners, Messrs Bathgate and Reeves, who were recently. appointed to visit -. the Tuapeka Weat district, and report on the matter, will be entirely in favour of declaring Run 106 open: und&r the deferred-payment system. Notwithstanding the report of the survoyors.such evidence was presented to the Commissioners as fully- satisfied them that the land should be at once opened for settlement.

" A Secularist" writes us to correct two stupid errors that occurred in his Utter published in yesterday's Times. " Determinist" was converted into " Weterminist," and " JTreewillist" into " Freenillist." While fault may, perhaps, be found with our "reading," there isf certainly room for improvement in our correspondent's writing. • ■ .

We learn that Mr Stanley Alexander, of Chrislchurch, has been elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in London.

The Committee of the Dnnedm Jockey Club have received from Mr I. Abraham a handsome gold mounted riding whip, which will be presented by the President of the Club to the rider of tho winning horse in the Dunedia Cup immediately after the race.: :

Mr Thomas Hunter {received a telegram yesterday .stating that the crushing from the TJaited =Alpine Company's; mine, at Lyell, realised 3063z of amalgam from 155 toss of stone, for sJ.dayß, from the plates only. : The berdan return has not yot bean1 received.) '■'*' ■ •

The Board of Reviewers sat again yesterday, and adjourned until 10 o'clock today* The first business;taken will be the Borough of RoBlyn; adjourned cases at 11. I )

We understand a few independent gentlemen, with whom money is comparatively no object, are about to start a first class morning daily in Christchurch on the independant prin. ciple of the semi-defunct Echo. These principles are said to have been ignored in the Telegraph, with which it will be amalgamated.

When Messrs Elder received a cheque for the balance of the contract price oi the Czar's yacht Livadia, they also received a bonus tif L 40.000, owing to the high rate of speed attained by the yacht during her official trials.

Misses Montgomary, Hamann, and Laing, candidates from Otago, -have secured junior scholarships in the New Zealand University examination.

A meeting of the Otago Institute was held last evening, at which an able and voluminous paper on fiskculture was read by Mr Aathur, and a description of the venous circulation of the skate, was contributed by Professor Parker. • ;

Roderick Webb, who fell and broke his arm while jumping a fence at Weßt Taieri, was admitted to the Hospital yesterday.

■ The damage;..caused, to by some of the birds - introduced-by the Acclimatisation Society is in some instances very serious. Mr R; Gillies, at a meeting of the Otago Institute last evening, admitted that the Acclimatisation Society had made serious mistakes in the introduction of some birds. Prom' personal knowledge, he could, say. that atithe beginning of this • year a fiald of oats had been literally stripped by birds, and the settler h&d in pure self-defence to lay poison for them. He thought no one could blame the Bsttler for what he had done, bnt he regrettsd to say that the consequence was that, with the others, a considerable number of valuable birds, such as partridges and pheasants, had been destroyed. The wayin whichbirds spread over the country was very remarkable. .Sparrows which, had been introduced in Christchurc'i, were now as far down as Lookrout Point, where they could be seen in large numbers. :

= A sad accident occurred at Lovell's Flat on Monday evening last, about 8 p.m. (says the Clutha Leader^whereby a young man named James Cowie lost his life. ; It appears that he had gone down to Loveli's Creek along with another young man to bathe.- They had gone in at the j unction of Lovell's and Creeks where the water was, apparently, about three or four feet deep, but a hole some 12 feot deep had been rnn out in the middle, and into which he inadvertantly stepped and disappeared. He rose to the surface once, it 'appears, but being unable, to swim he disappeared again almost immediately. Hi» mate alao being unable to swim could render no assistance. The body was recovered after considerable, trouble some three hours afterwards.: The deceased was in oharge of Messrs Bryce'a stud horses, and was well-known in the district, in fact was rather a favourite from his lively and genial disposition. We believe he has several brothers and a sister in the Colony. An inquest was held on Toes day evening, when a verdict of "Accidental death by drowning" was returned. !

A correspondent senda us the following rather good story :—ln connection with the. garden robberies that have been rife in the neighbourhood of Royal terrace of late, a droll circumstance occurred the other night. An. elderly gentleman, the proprietor-of a garden, having long observed, with feelings of indignation and dismay, that his fruit became nightly smaller by degrees and gradually less, had come to the conclusion that unless steps were at onca taken to secure the depredators ultimate measures would be fruitless. He resolved, therefore, to watch his garden himself; and one night, having fortified his"■; inner man with sundry potations, he shut himself in his gardenhouse to await the expected . marauders. Bacchus and Morpheus, however, combined against Pomona and Argus, and the old gentle man fell asleep. Hours lagged slowly on with his spouse at home, until at a late period of the evening that good l&dy proceeded in search of her husband. Not findiag him in any other place, she : concluded that he ; must be in the garden, but on seeking an entrance there she found . the gate, sscurely locked. . She then attempted to climb the fence, and had neatly accomplished the feat, when lo ! a policeman, who had been like Mr watching for the thief, fondly thinking that his time had come, eagerly pounced upon the supposed depredator. In vain did Mrs -—- remonstrate and explain. It was.not. until her screams arouied the dormant faculties of her watchful lord that any prospect of release from the fangs of the law appeared. At length, however, the lady was liberated, and Mr —- and the policeman proceeded to refresh themselves after the fatigues of the night.

As evidencing {says the Argus) how strongly established Melbourne ha 3 become as the great central depot for the sale of wool in Austra--laela, we may mention that 146,902 bales of wool have been offered for sale in the Colony during the season to date, and that 108,953 bales have been sold, these figures closely approximating to those of the corresponding date of last year. The shipments of wool from Vie; toria show an increase of 86,665'ba1e5, the total exported to date being 240,664 bales, against 204,009 bales shipped it this date last year. This increase is to a considerable extent attributable to the additional consignments from the neighbouring Australian Colonies, also New Zealand and Tasmania; which are being at; traded to this market for disposal at the auction sales in Melbourne.

A contemporary lately gave an account of a stalk of oats grown on Inch Clutha which was seven feet long, and contained 150 grains. Waitepeka (says the Clutha Leader) can boast of a superior stalk grown bri the ridges, which is seven feet two inches' high, and contains 21(8 grains. This plant was taken from a number of Bimilar ones, on the farm of Mr D. Stewart, who also bas'cut a spier/did crop of wheat estimated at nearly 60 bushels per acre.

In view of the approaching race meeting, the following story may prove interesting :—" On the second day of ithe Robe races (the South Eastern Stir states)'* bit of swindling was' carried on by a man travelling with a monkey.For the purpose of carrying oat the game he has 12 luge-ticke'tß made of lead, with five numbers; on each, and balls, supposed with correspond;': ing numbers, which are put into a wheel-of-fortune arrangement! When the tickets are all sold (12, at 2j each), the barrel is revolved, the elide drawn, and, Charley (the monkey) paws bne'ball but and hands it to his master, who at once calls out the number and hands to the owner of the ticket 20s, or I.Bs and another chance. Bat, not being satisfied with a2O per) cent profit, he gets a man to button for him by taking a ticket and [letting him see the numbers on it The monkey pulls the ball, and before anyone can nee the number (if there is' one), the man pops it back in the barrel again, and of course calls out a number that is on the tioket hia mate is holder of. This state of' things did' not last long, when he was caught, and was very glad to hand the money back for the last ticket that had been drawn. He was not long in-clearing out."

; A concert was held at the Garrison Hall last evening in aid of the widowed mother of Thomas T. Jeffreys, who was accidentally killed some time ago at Guthrie and- Larnach's factory. Mr' J. Robin occupied the chair. There was''a large attendance, and the entertainment passed off most satisfactorily, the ladies and gentlemen who kindly volunteered their services for the occasion acquitting themselves with credit The Headquarters Band contributed a couple of selections, Mr T. Bracken gave a recitation, Herr Schweers played a piano solo, and the vocalists who assisted included Miss Tunnioliffe, Miss Watt; Mibs Lack, Mr Ibbotson/ Mr Donovan, Miss Packer, and a quartette party. Miss Tunnicliffe sang two songs and was encored on both occasions, and Mr Bracken was encored for. his admirable recitation of ,«' The charge of the Light Brigade." A dance, was held after the concert, and was attended by fully 200 couples. It is expected that the proceeds of the entertainment will ampant to a considerable snm.

• Elsewhere we publish the prospectus of the Forburv JPark Land Company (Limited). . ~,■:: , . . iAt 1.30 p.m. this day Messrs Henry J. Bacon and ; Co. will hold a sale of timber. , ;' At 1 p.m. on the 28th inst.Mr Montagu Pymwill .hold a clearing sale of farm stock. ;. .. "\.."... : At^nooh this day Messrs G; T. Clarko and Co. wil■■• hold a large sale of unredeemed pledges.-;- .■•..'';;-■■

extension of Mosgiel township. x ra^^rV'6^ in connection with the forthcoming SEKi vtr 0) T dJ or Bale at noon this day.at the provincial Yards, by Messra Wright; Stephenson, and

ha^iss^edi ™° a? d,^ toe Insurance Company for'lßf&. y DIC y Uluminated Bheet-alnSuM and event" J?S? rf U1 ?,l each on Sunday morning and evening at the Union Church, Great King street st^t^^S^^^^ <* *?* season ttill!oe given in the Garrison HaU on Tuesday next, it will include "The Lay of the Bell •■' and miscellaneous selections. '

Messrs H. J. Bacon and Co. have'tiecidad to hold Btre^tsv'' *• •*t?° n!f; B°^iv ttnd C^vford

ofSti^f' Bacon ?? d Co- >tUI hold a sale or lurmture at 1 p.m. on March Ist. " ; In connection with the Dunedin races, ordinary ohn^h'"? tlckefca., issued *<> Dunedin from cS church, Invercaigill, and intermediate stations, with branches, from,23rd to 26th.February, will be avail•Tnstan" Up to and includin ff Monday, 2Stn