IN DAYS THAT HAYE GONE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15101, 25 March 1911, Page 4

IN DAYS THAT HAYE GONE

THE WEEK'S ANNIVERSARIES,

Mar. 26,—Captain Cook's second visit to

New Zealand, 1773. Beethoven died, 1827. Brunner mine disaster, 1896. Cecil Rhodes died, 1902. Mar. 27.—James I died, 1625. \ Alfred do Vigny born, 1797. Dunedin-Moeraki railway commenced, 1874. Sir Gilbert Scott died, 1878. John Bright died, 1889. Mar. 28. —Raphael torn, 1483. Richard Saekville, Earl of Dorset, barn, 1589. Sir Ralph Absrcromby died, 1801. Crimean War commenced, 1854. Mar. 29.—Battle of Towton, 1461.

Swcdenbarg diod, 1772. Keblo died, 1865. Royal Albert Hall opened, 1871. Agreement between Afghanistan and Indian Government, 1903. Mar;3o.—Sir H. Wotton born, 1568. Peace signed with Russia, by Allies iii Crimean War, 1856. Mar, 31,—Peace of Utrecht, 1713. Taranaki settled, 1841! C. Bronte died, 1855.

H.R.H. Prince Henry born, 1900. Pericles wrecked off Albany, 1910.

Apr. I.—Sir John Suckling born, 1613. Joseph Haydn torn, 1732. Marriage of Napoleon and Maria Louisa, 1810. Bismark born, 1815. Southland separated from Otago, 1861. Butler committed or trial for alleged murder, 1880.

' Captain Cook, on his second visit to Now Zealand, landed in Dusky Bay on March 26, 1773. He was in command o£ the Resolution, a ship of 462 tons :burderi, and had also a smaller ship' called the.Adventure, with a complement in all of 193 mien. At Dusky Bay he saw tho Maoris, and established friendly relations with them, but he had no interpreter. Ho had five geese on board, and l these he let loose at Goose Cove for the benefit of man. Ho sailed northwards, and on May 18 found the Adventuro, from which he had become separated, at Queen Charlotte Sound.

"On Thursday, March 26, 1896, a terrible explosion occurred at the Brunner coal mine, which was owned by the Greymouth and Point Elizabeth Coal Company. The disaster proved to te the most extensive in the history of Neiv Zealand mining. Net one out of 67 men in the mine at the timo cams out alive. A gallant army of rescuers toiled splendidly, but tho only result of their labours was the recovery of the 67 bodies. Many families were, left destitute by the loss of the bread-winners, and prompt steps were taken in all parts of tho colony to raise funds for the relief of the distressed. A total of close on £25,000 -was reached, and of this same £3300 came from (ltago.

Cecil John Rhodes, one of the great markers of the British Empire, teas born on July 5, 1853, in Hertfordshire. As a young man the idea took passionate possession of him that no Power but Great Britain should be allowed to dominate in the administration of South Africa.. He made the governance of tho world by the British race his great life object. After studying for a timo at Oxford Mr Rhodes ocoupied himself with tho amalgamation of tho larger number of the diamond mines of Kimberley with 1 the De Beer's Company, an operation which established his position as a practical financier. In 1881 ho entered public life as a member of the Cape Assembly, and was responsible in tho succeeding years for very valuable and extensive additions being made to British territory in South Africa. In 18S6, yfter six years of supreme power, tho brilliant period' of his premiership was brought to an end 'by the incident which bccamo famous ' under tho name of the Jameson Raid. The subsequent finding of tho Cape Committee, which ha accepted as accurate, was to the effect' that ''in his capacity as controller of the three great joint stock companies—the British South Africa- Company, tho De Beers Consolidated Mines, and the Goldfields of South Africa — lie directed and controlled the combination which rendered- such a proceeding as the Jameson Raid possible." He resigned his Premiership of tho Capo; and, r'ocognising • that his pressmco was no 'longer useful in tho colony, he turned his attention to Rhodesia. Ho died at Capetown on March 26, 1902, and left behind him a will in which ho dedicated his fortunes as he had dedicated himself, exclusively, to tho public service. !

James I, the son of Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley, ascended tho Throne of England on the death of Elizabeth, and was tho' fiist Sovereign of tho Stuart line. 110 brought with him to tho t.hronc the idea of the Divine right of kings, which proved in the end the ruin of tho Stuarts. During ttirs reign our Authorised Version of tho Biblo was issued. Successful attempts were mado at colonisation, and settlements'were made at Virginia. James was possessed of eomc amount of loarning, and used it in so vain a manner as to earn tho title of." tho wisest fool in Christendom." As ho deemed it necessary to give to tho world his .opinion on almost, every subject of importance which then' occupied publio attention, his proas disquisitions are legion, but the bestknown are Demonolopic, Basilicon Doron, and Counterblast to Tobacco. Sir Ralph Abercromby was born in Clackmannanshire in 173 i Ho was educated for the law, but had an inclination for a military life, and in 1756 joined the army. Ho saw much active service during' tho Seven Years' War and the War of Americaji Independence. "In 1793 Abercromby accompanied the troops under tho Duke of York in tho disastrous expedition to Holland, and gained some distinction during that campaign. Eight years later ho was given ihe command of tho troops sent to Egypt t° dislodge the French. At the battle of Aboulcir on March 21. 1801, ho was mortally wounded, and "died on board ship just a week iater. Ho waa buried at Maldon, but there is a monument to him in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Towton, a small town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was tho sceile of tho most important engagement in of the Roses. In March, 1461, Edward IY and Warwick with a Yorkist army marched forward to meet the Lancastrians under Henry VI. Tlicy met at Towton, and the Lancastrians were totally defeated. Henry and Margaret fled into Scotland. Edward returned to London, and was erownod at Westminster early in January of tho following year. Tho fury of civil war in tho fifteenth ce-ntury allowed very few prisoners to be mode. Over 30,000 corpsts are said to have been buried near Towton, of whom about a quarter were Yorkists. Tho Lancastrian army was to all intents and purposes annihilated. Tho Crimean war. which was commenced on March 28, 1854, by England and Franco " to maintain the integrity of tho Turkish Empire as a barrier to t-Jio encroachment of Russia," dragged on for a period of two years. Early in 1856 the Congress of Paris met to discuss terms of peace, and on March 30 tho war was ended by the signing of tho Treaty, of Paris. The chief [joints of tho treaty were that the Powers should recognise tho independence of Turkey. that the. Black Sea should be neutral and its ports thrown open to commerce of all nations, and that all places held by the allies belonging to Russia should bo restored. Tho Peaoo of Utrecht in 1713 hrouglit to a close, after negotiations lasting somo seven years, tho war of the Spanish Succession. By tho terms of this treaty France and Spain woro never to be united; France was to dismiss the Pretender, recogAisa Anno and tho Protestant succession, and dismantloDunkirk;'England was to retain Gibraltar and Minorca; and to Tooeivo Hudson's Bay Territory, Newfoundland, and Nora Scotia from Franco. Capo Breton was reserved for France. There was also a clause transferring tho right of importing negroes to Spanish America from Franoo to tho English South Sea Company. As Southland grew' in population and

its property increased, it became ovident tliat it could not ba satisfactorily adminis-tcr-ecl from so distant a centre as Dunodin. Tho Otago settlors wore anxious to prevent the .separation, but tho people of Invcrcargill urged its necessity upon the Government. At last, on March 28, 1861, tho Now' Zealand' Gazette informed the oolony that Murihiku had been constituted "the province of Southland." with Invcrcargill nr> its capital. On the sth of June following it was proclaimed that the Provincial Council was to consist of 11 members, to bo' chcEcn by tho 269 electors scattered over six doctoral districts. Dr J. A. R, Mcnzks was tho first Superintendent of the 'province, and Mr Robsrt Stuart tho'Speaker of tho first Provincial Council. On April 1, 1880, Robart Butler, probably tho most vicious and notorious criminal ever arraigned in Dunedin, was committed , for trial for tho alleged murder of Mr and Mrs Dewar and their infant in Cumberland &trcet. Butler wbu captured ix-;-r Waikouaiti tho day after the murder. The coroner's jury brought in a verdict of wilful ir.urdcr against him, but tho proceedings in tho Supremo Court, where tho prisoner conducted an extremely able defence, ended in his aMuittal Unon a ohnrre nf

burglary, howevir, that occurrcd about tho same time, Butler reoeived a sentence of 18 years' imprisonment. He was « Victorian by birth, and though only 28 years of ago at that time, had spcht most of 'his life in gaol. Arrested a few years ago in Queensland on a charge of horse-stealing, his ability in tho dock convinccd the police that they had no ordinary criminal in theiif hands. His identity with Butler was established. Ho was tried for a murder of which ho had been suspected, and in tho end suffered tho oxtrcmo penalty of the law.