LOCAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1681, 9 February 1884, Page 9

LOCAL & GENERAL.

The vital statistics for tho Dunedin district for the month of January are: Births, 150 deaths, 58 ; marriages, 27. For the corresponding period of last year the returns were ; Births, 167 ; deaths, 64 ; marriages, 40. The steamer Aorangi left Lyttelton on Thursday for London. She took 50 passengers ; also 7000 frozen sheep. The Rev. Mr Bannerman took the New Hebrides natives who came with the Dayspring into the country for a trip at the end of last week. They went down to bhe Cltrthadistrict, and were present at the Sunday ser vices at Port Molyneux and Puarua. At ther close of each service the natives went through the form of Divine worship in their own style and tongue. On Monday a gathering took place at Balclutha. Tho day was very wet ; still about 200 children and. 70 or SO adults assembled. Addresses were delivered, and the natives sang some of their hymns. The party returned to town on Monday night. The natives were greatly interested in all they saw, and surprised at the size of the " island," which they had naturally concluded was something like those thoy had been accustomed to. The Harbour Board's engineer oa Tbun dfi submitted a report to the Board, in which he stated that the buckets of the_ big dredge are in a vevy unsatisfactory condition, and that extensive refitting is required. The present buckets coat about £S0 each, or £2900 for the whole outfit ; but Mr Barr is of opinion that by slightly varying the pattern a complete set could be got in England for about £2000. In the meantime, to satisfy ui'gent wants, th& Board have sanctioned eight or 10 backs being made here at once, at a cost of £300 or £400. These, although of the best material obtainable, will be inferior, of course, to the cast-steel .ones that could be got in Britain. The dredge is also to be fitted with a new top tumbler, at a cost of £90, and arrangements are to be made for duplicating such parts of he* machinery as is advisable in order to enable her to be kept continuously at work. The Circle Hill School Committee have nominated Professor Shand and Mr Elder for the Education Board vacancies ; the Cromwell Committee have nominated Messrs Shand and Macgregor ; and the Kawarau Gorge Committee Messrs Elder and Shand. At a meeting of the Committee of the Dunedin Horticultural Society, held on Thursday, ife was decided to hold a two days' show at the Garrison Hall on March 6 and 7. It was decided that eilribits which come by train from a distance will be received up to 11 o'clock on the morning of the opening day, provided they have been previously entered. The Society this year provide their own tables for the exhibits. An extraordinary affair was investigated on November 29 last by the Coroner for Stroud (says a Home paper). An aged couple named Smith resided in a cottage at Kitacombe, and were in receipt of parish relief. On Wednesday evening the house was found to be locked, and upon a neighbour forcing an entrance the old man, aged 71, was found dead in a corner of the bedroom, bruised and battered, with a broom and crutch at his feet. The woman was found at tho foot of the stairs, terribly bruised, and in a dying state, and her death ensued the next morning. It is inferred that the woman had killed the man, and that her death resulted from the wounds he had inflicted upon her. The inquest was adjourned. A Brisbane telegram in the Melbourne papers says : " Mr Jones, who was so severely injured at Rockton by a circular saw, is still alive The saw cut through five ribs. The heart and left lung can bo seen in full working order. Only oue case of a similar nature has ever before been recorded." The rainfall in Wellington, which commenced shortly after midnight on Sunday, January 20, and continued until about noon on the 22nd, and which reached s'oßin in about 36 hours, accom panied with such a violent southerly gale, was the most destructive of any rainstorm on record during the last 20 years. The register for the last 24 hours of the time was 4'47in. which is the greatest fall known. At the annual meeting of householders o the Tiniaru School district on Monday last, the following resolution was carried unanimously, about 150 persons being present : — ' That it be a recommendation to tho ißcomhii? Committee to confer with the committees of otherjj; borough schools in Canterbury with a view of memorialising the Department of Education to remove borough schools from under the control of boards of education and placing them directly under the control of the Depaitment, and that members of the House of Representatives be asked to assist the memorialists." The Titnaru Herald upon this says:— "The Department of Education hay» no more power to remove borough schools from the control of boards of education than they have to abolish the Legislative Council or to annex New Guinea. Nothing short of- au Act of Parliament would suffice to achieve- the object of the resolution." , The endless divei'tity of uses to which elec tricity may be put received another illustration recently at the Court Opera at Vienna, where, by tho simple expedient of suspending tiny incandescent lamps by iine swinging wires, the effect was produced of swarms of f i j efiiea flitting about a tropical forest. By switches the current is turned off and on tit the pleasure of tho operator, and the effect, ns the artificial fireflies flash and dance in mid-air, is said to have been electrical in other than a literal senibe. Archibald Forbes, writing in tho Sydney i Morning Herald, says: "New Zealand in ! perhaps }w excellence the land of clubs. No New Zealand town so small or so remote that has not its club ; th.it institution has asseited itself even in New Zealand villages. Look at Patea, for instance, a little place on tho West Coast of the Northern Island, with a population all told of somo 1200 souls. Patoa \V;is perhaps a little weak in the matter of sidewalks when I chanced to visit it, but itvtes stiong in fcho possession of a snug little club, with an excellent reading-room and' a capital billiard-table. Gisbbrne, the town of the Poverty Bay settlement, with its population nf 2000, can scarcely be said to be in tha bsaten tiack of the world's trafhe.

The Union Company^ steamers anchor in its bay about oace a week, and afford the settlement its sole means of communication with the , rest of creation ; but the Gisborne Club is a aaodel establishment. On its reading-room table ties a wider range of news publications that any club south of the line that I ikuow can boast of. And, in addition to its comfortable accommodation for gentlemen, it possesses a pretty little parlour, with bedroom annexed, wherein the up-country runholder can quarter his wife, who has come into the town for a ball, or to await the steamer's advent." The North-East Valley Borough Council and Taien County Council have each voted £10 as » contribution to the funds jof the Benevolent Institution. The Waikouaiti people seem to be going into the matter of raising funds for the Institution con amove. A public meeting has been held at which there was a good attendance, and it was decided to hold a Bruce auction in May. A working committee has been formed in connection with the matter. A peculiar case came before the Supreme Court on Filiay. Actions to set aside transfers of property are very frequently brought when fche property has been transferred to a man's wife, but in this case the action was brought foeoause it was alleged a man made away with his property in order to deprive his wife of any benefit she might be entitled to derive from it. The case was a peculiar one in many other rsspects. Margaret Laverfcy obtained a judicial separation from Charles Laverty last year, and in order to obtain Costs of the suit made him bankrupt. It was found, however, that shortly after the parties quarrelled, and long before the divorce suit was instituted, Charles Laverty had made over his deferred-payment section— valued at about £1400— to his brother James. The action yesterday was brought by the creditors' trustee to set aside this transfer, on the ground that it was fraudulently made to defeat any claim the wife might make against her husband. His Honor gave judgment against the trustee, who, it was remarked, was very rash or very disinterested in making himself liable for the costs of the action, Margaret Laverty having stated that she had given no guarantee to the trustee for the costs in the event of the action being unsuccessful. Messrs Reid and Duncans have now undertaken the management of the Dunedin city and suburban tramways. This firm will thus have the entire system of tramways in and around D.unedin under their management. Another new candidate has turned up for the Education Board, in the person of Mr Griffin, of Macraes. The nominations by school committees are now concluded. The gentlemen nominated are seven in numbernamely, Professor Shajad, Messrs Elder and &egg (the retiring members), and the Rev. Dr MacgreEfor, Messrs Procter (Oamaru), Johnston (Kaihiku), and Griffin (Macraes). During the present month the Committees proceed e*ch to vote for three members. Some of the Dunedin Committees voted last night — William street and George street for Messrs Shand, Macgregor, and Begg, and Union street for ' Messrs Shand and Macgregor. The Clutha Leader states that the Rev. J. U. Spence (Clinton) met with a nasty accident on Wednesday morning last. While in the act of chopping wood the axe swung round and struck him a severe blow on the head. He is rapidly recovering from the effects of the blow. The " Hansard " of the United States Confess is called the Congressional Record. Members of Congress, it seems, have the extraordinary privilege of inserting speeches they never delivered. The Public Printer, in his last annual report, says : " The question of the propriety of printing in the Record speeches which were never delivered before Congress has at times been discussed in Congress and by the Press of the country. _ If it should be decided to stop this practice, it would materially lessen the expense of this publication," It need hardly be added that the Record would be more creditable to Congress if it were a true account of what members actually did say, insteacj of what they wish they had said, or what they would have said if they had got the chance ; but it is not expected that much attention will be paid to the Public Printer's protest. A number of persons. were nearly drowned at Port Chalmers yesterday afternoon, when four men and.two women, who were boat-sailing in Koputai Bay, updet the boat and fell into the water. It appears they had hired a - waterman's boat for tho afternoon, and were sailing about, when by some means the boat fouled the dredge No. 222, and the whole of them were thrown into the water. The two females — a Mrs Clark and Miss Rose — were E luckily rescued by John Kemp, one of the ands belonging to the dredge, while Messrs Mackley, Jewiss, and Chalker (waterman), who were on the pier at the time of the accident, promptly put off to the relief of the men, who are Thomas Murray, Samuel Lyons, William J. Spragg, and George Story. It is much to be regretted that persons who possess no knowledge of boat-sailing should be permitted to take boats away from the wharves without being accompanied by a competent waterman. Had this been the case yesterday no accident could possibly have occurred. The steamer Doric arrived at Auckland on Sunday night. She brings 300 immigrants. Amongst her saloon passengers we notice the names of the Hon. Captain Eraser and Mr T. W. Kempthorne. k A deputation from the Otago Trades and Labour Council waited upon Mr Stout on Saturday evening respecting the question of obtaining the electoral franchise tor seamen employed on New Zealand vessels. Mr Stout laid before the deputation the method he considered best ; and after the views of the deputation bad been announced, Mr Stout promised to draft a bill with the view of securing special representation for seamen, by the issue to them of electoral rights similar to miners' rights. The first meeting, since vacation, of the Dunedin branch of the Educational Institute was held in the Normal School oxi Saturday. Mr Moore, the president, and a quorum of members were present. Mr White gave notice that at the next monthly meeting he wculd move that the branch take into consideration the advisability of having quarterly instead of monthly meetings ; and the meeting was then adjourned for a month. The following are the Hospital returns for the past week: — Remaining from previous week, 125 ; admitted during the week, 13 ; discharged, 13; death (William Caiid), 1; total remaining, 124. Mr A. D. Lubecki, who had been granted a year's leave of absence in consequence of ill health, has resumed duty as officer in charge of the Dunedin Telegraph Department. Mr Martin carried on the duties of the position during Mr Lubecki's absence in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. There was a large attendance at the Jewish Synagogue on Sunday afternoon, the service being in aid of the funds of the Benevolent Institution. The Rev. Mr Lichenstein dec Jiverod an excellent address, taking for his

text Proverbs chap, iii, verses 2? and 28 — " Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee." The rev. gentleman pointed out that true religion consisted of deeds, not dogmas ; of active righteousness rather than articles of faith ; and enforced the necessity of giving to the poor and distressed whilst able to do so. The choral service was very effectively rendered, and the sum of £2G 17s was contributed to the fund now being raised by the Committee-maid.. The Gazette contains notifications that William M'Donald has been appointed lieutenant of the Port Chalmers Naval Artillery, and William Kettle lieutenant of L Battery. Both commissions date from September IS. The children attending the different Sundayschools at Port Chalmers visited the mission vessel Dayspring on Saturday, and were greatly entertained by all they saw on board. The Oamaru breakwater has been completed—that is, so far as the contractors ara concerned. Under circumstances of a most \ disheartening and expensive nature (says the Oamaru Times) Mr Miller has for close upon two years endeavoured to push forward the work of completion, but in this he has been baffled by tempestuous weather, which has not only delayed the work, but put him tozieavy expense. There certainly can have been very ttle pecuniary profit in laying the final section of the wall. However, the work was completed yesterday morning by the addition of auother enormous block to those previously placed in position. We believe the Board has not yet decided whether to erect a tower, as originally contemplated, at the end of the wall, or simply to erect a frame for a light. Tho Dayspring, mission vessel, took her departure from Port Chalmers on Tuesday, sailing direct for Sydney, where she will receive supplies, &c. for the several missionaries preparatory to proceeding to the islands on April 1. At Dunedin wharf she was visited by close on 14,000 persons— children and adults. She was taken down to Port Chalmers on Friday last, being towed by the Iron Age, and thrown open to the public at the Port, and was visited there by upwards of GOO children, besides adults. The captain and officers were all attention to the many visitors, and kindly explained to the successive crowds that passed through her cabins the various curios that were exhibited. The captain has given expression to his great satisfaction at the orderly conduct of his many visitors, young and old. Not onu of the many curios (some of them very brittle) has been injured, and not an article has been taken away, though both could easily have happened and been unobserved at the time. The natives, of whom there wera five — one a female— were objects of great attraction. They will return to their homes laden with gifts, and will have much to tell of the kindness of the white people and their children, and of the wonders they have seen in town and country. They have shown themselves to be possessed of much intelligence and observation. Their advancement and deportment, the result of missionary labour and Christian instruction, whereby they have been transformed from savage cannibals into peaceful, gentle Christians, may well be an •encouragement to increased missionary work among the heathen. We have no doubt that the visit of the Dayspring with her interesting passengers will increase the interest of the Presbyterians throughout the Provincial District of Otago in the special missions they have undertaken in the South Pacific. The deaths of two noted men are reported by cable this week. One is M. Eugene Kouher, the French statesman, and the other Mr Wendell Phillips, so well known as a platform orator in the United States. M. Rouher has been connected with French politics since 1849, and he has held a number of Ministerial positions, having been Minister of Justice, Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works, Minister of State, and Minister of Finance ; whilst in 1869 he was nominated by the Emperor as President of the Senate. After the fall of the Empire he was mixed up with various intrigues for the restoration ot the Napoleonic dynasty. He sat for some time afterwards in the National Assembly. Mr Phillips is best known for his vigorous speeches in favour of the emancipation of the slaves, and was President for a number of years of the American Anti-Slavery Society. A Caversham landlord named John Caldor was receiving £2 rent from a tenant, and thought he would save one penny, being the amount of the revenue stamp provided by law. He therefore gave the tenant two receipts for £1, and no doubt thought he had done a clever thing. This happened in the year 1882. By some means the Stamp Department becamo possessed of the receipts a short time ago, and Mr Calder to his surprise had to appear in tho Police Court on Monday to answer a charge of defrauding her Majesty of one penny. He. pleaded guilty, and was evidently astonished when the J ustices told him he was liable to a penalty of £10. They, however, let him off with a fine of £2, and he had the pleasure of paying his tenant 8s for attending the Court as a possible witness. He left the Court fully determined to comply with the provisions of the Stamp Act on future occasions. Union Bank notes of £1 altered so as to appear of the value of _£5 are at present in circulation in Dunedin. The Melbourne Argus has the following reference to the same thing:— "An ingenious bank-note fraud has been brought under our notice. The notes of the Union Bank, of all denominations, are similar in colour and design. The values are shown in the upper right-hand corner and in the lower left, in figures (£l, £5, £10, &c), and in the body in large letters. The figures have been cut out of £5 notes and neatly pasted over the figures of a £1 note, so as to make it resemble a note for £5, the words in the body being blurred by rubbipg. The £5 note or notes would be sent in with the corners torn off, so as to look accidentally mutilated, and would, no dsubt, be paid. The £1 notes are so. neatly altered as to deceive most people, even experts, when not looking carefully. 1 ' Our Dunedin tradesmen should be upon their guard about receiving £5 Union Bank notes. New Zealand finance (says " Anglo,-Austra-lian " in the European Mail) is indeed looking up. The conversion of the five-thirty bonds has been an enormous success. The business was thoroughly well managed by Sir Francis D. Bell, and Sir Julyan Penrose— that is the universal opinion here in all financial circles, — and the resultant saving to the Colony of £30,000 per annum is no small matter. When the outstanding balance of the bonds hap been also " converted," the economy effected will be £45,000. This is a. happy " financial issue, particularly when we remember the condition of matters five or six years ago ; but New Zealand credit may now be justly said to have reached a base of permanent solidarity.

A. telegram in the Argus says :— " Con* stable Dormer, of Bungonia (New South Wales), shot his wife on the 24tb January

undar circumstances showing gross and culpable carelessness. After explaining tli9 use and action of his revolver to two female friends of his wife, he iv tun aimed the pistol, fired ;tt one woman and then at the other, snapping it both times. He then aimed it at his wife* who threw her right arm before her face and told him to desist. He drew the trigger, and the pistol went off, tha bullet passing through the fleshy part of his wife's arm and lodging in her neck a little above tho collarbone. She is io. a very critical state. There is no doubt that the constable believed that the pistol was not loaded."

Any lingering hope that Hicks Pasha may possibly have escaped has been finally dispelled. His body waß discovered whore he died fighting, with his revolver in one hand and his sabre in the other. 1 A young Jew of St. Petersburg, named Schisgal, has' invented a watch that goes by electricity. Herr Chowlson, professor of I physics at the University of St. Petersburg, has written an article on tho subject in the Nowosfci, in which he says : "In its remark- < able simplicity this invention can oniy be coinpa] ed with the Jablachkoff system of electric lighting. The watchss are without any springs, and consist solely of two wheels. Besides being true, they have the advantage ot the 1 second - hand moving in siugle momentary caps, as is usually the case only in very costly watches, and which is of the utmost utility for astronomical observations. These watchea can also set in motion a certain number of watches of the same conscructiou, so that they all keep exact time. The invention has convinced me that watches can be used for the purposes ot telegraphy." After naming several other advantages, Professor Chowlson describes the invention as a wonder which- will cause an entire revolution in the mauufacturo of watches. Herr Schbgal is the son of a Jewish watchmaker iv Berditschew. In the New Zealand Gazette of the 24th January appears a list of clergymen in New Zealand authorised to celebrate marriages under "The Marriage Act 1880." Belonging to the Church of Eugland (writes a, contemporary) there are 235 officiating ministers, the Presbyterian Church of ' New Zealand has 81, the Roman Catholic Church 8(3, tho Presbyterian Cnurch of Otago and Southland 57, the Wesleyan . Methodist Society 95, the Congregational Independent 19, the Baptists 16, Primitive Methodist Connection 17, the United Methodist Free Church 11, the Lutheran Church 9, the Hebrew congregation six ; six other bodies with only one clergyman each, six ;— making a total of 638 officiating clergymen in the Colony for a population of halt a million, giving au average ot about 803 to each, I including men, women, and children. Mr Williamson, of the Bluff, has decided upon sending a trial shipment of Stewart's Island fish in the ship Canterbury to . London. He sent 2000 dozen oysters in the Opawa, frozen in the bhell | Advices have come to hand saying they bad ! arrived safely, had been tried, and, although a | little hard, Jwero swset and palatable. The j account sales have not yet been received, but we (News) trust his enterprise will be a success fiuancially, so that the vast resources of Stewart's Island oyster and fish beds may beome of the importance .they deserve. The New York Tribune complains of the useless work and waste of material of the United States Government Printing - office. That journal says : " What with unnecessary as well as necessary publications, the Government Printing-office is a remarkable institution. It employs over 2100 persons, and duriupr tha last fiscal year Congress published 14,416,744 documents, ranging from the brief committee report of a single page to 'Thfi Nautical Almanac ' and ' Medics! and Surgical History of the War,' having respectively 500 and 1000 pages in each volume. The flood of matter that pours out fiom this office is enormous. Over 42,000 volumes of unfinished work were completed and delivered during the last fiscal year. The issue of the Congressional Recordforthe second session of the Congress was 38,750 volumes. Sixty thousand copies, in all, had to be printed of eulogies upon the six members who dißd during the second session ; .and an equal number was printed during the first session. Some of these ' oulogie3 ' were volumes of speeches containing as many as 120 pages." The following Btory, told by the London Life, serves to illustrate the love of the French people for the mysterious :—" A short tjme ago a Parisian doctor set up an establishment; in the Faubourg Montmartre. He asbumed a high-soundiner name, furnished his house in a weird aud' fantastic fashion, engaged solemn'looking and taciturn servaats, and announced that he could only see patients after the hours of midnight or in the grey dawn of the morning. The effect, was electrical. Every weak-minded person, with maladies real or imaginary, flocked to the new medico, who soon began to reap a golden harvest. At last the suspicions of the police were aroused. The Commissary paid him a personal visit, and asked to see his diplomas. To his surprise he found out that not only had the suspected individual taken good degrees, but that he had graduated with I the highest honours at the Paris University. Just as he was taking his departure, however, the doctor entreated him not to let anyone know of his high qualifications. The Commissary, with some surprise, asked why he desired to conceal so much intellectual light under a bushel. ' Why,' replied the other, ( if my patients only knew that I was a mere doctor, my practice would vanish like the snow.' " The charge against Mr James M'Donald, M.H.R., of failing to furnish^ a return of his property for assessment under the Property Tax Act, came on for hearing again on Tuesday at the Police Court. Some legal argument took place between Messrs Macdonald and Denniston, at the close of which the information was amended, and the case was further adjourned until the 14th inst. The Railway Department announce recursion trips into the couac ' y, the 9th s and Saturday, the lGtnjnsc. On tue 9th a train will leave in the morning for Milton, calling at all wayside station* going and coming ; and on the 16th a train will run to Palmerston and back. The fares are remarkably cheap— ss return to Milton and 5s return to Palmerston. Given decent weather, such exoursion trips as these at such reasonable fares should be extremely well patronised. The Wesleyan Conference of 1885 will be held in Dunedin. A very complicated case affecting the rights to the property held by the Saddle Hill Goldmining Company was concluded at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The evidence was contradictory on several points, and a number of legal questions were involved. At the close of the case| his Honor intimated that he would take further time to consider his judgment, but that his impression was that the plaintiff had put himself out of Court by not taking pro. ceedingß earlier. During the delay a larg Q amount of money had been expended on tn Q

' adjoining property, and the plaintiff would in pait reap the benefit of thia if the relief he asked for were granted. There is at present sitting in tho Supreme Court a Commission for the taking of evidence in New Zealand in a very important equity huit pending in Victoria, between Mr G. M. Bell and Mr Joseph Clarke, an which over £100,000 is at stake. The action is in connection with the sale to the New Zealand Agricultural Company of their estate out tho Waimea Plains. The Commission commenced their sittings on Monday morning, when Mr James Smith and Mr George Mondy were present as Commissioners. Mr S. Solomon appeared sis counsel for the plaintiff, and Messrs B. C. Haggitt and J. R. Sinclair for the defendanc. The Kensington School Committee met on Monday night, when the vote was taken for members ot the Education Board, with the result that Mr A. D. Johnston, Professor Shand, and Ray. Jas. Macgregor were voted for. The Bruce County Council has made a grant of £10 towards the Benevolent Institution. A number of young men who are determined to do something practical towards furthering the cause of temperance have formed themselves into a club, and their club-room in Muray place was opened on Tuesday eveniug. Moray Hall, a building in Moray place to trie north of Stuart street, has been suitably furnished, a good supply of papers and periodicals has been secured, and temperance refreshments are to be procured iv the clubroom at reasonable rates. Ttie room will be open during the day and at night, and the members intend to meet frequently for social intercourse and amusement, the Club being designed to prove a^counter-attraction to the public-house. One of the most extraordinary instances of hard h wearing witnessed here for a long time past occurred in the Police CoUrt on Tuesday. Patrick Barry, an ex-police sergeant, and at present a storekeeper at Kensington, was charged with sly grog-selling, and went into the box simply to deny point blank that he supplied the beer, or had seen the man to whom he was alleged to have served it. The witness betore commencing his evidence kissed the Bible with remarkable fervour, but, not satisfied with his bare denial, Mr drew undertook a short examination. Barry then denied that he had beer in the house on the date alleged, but on being pressed stated that he did keep it for his own use, and had ordered a 27-gallon cask only a week or two prior to the date of the charge. His attention being drawn to the apparent incompatibility of thpso statements,"he staunchly reverted to 'his original statement that he had no beer at the time on the premises. Ahked whether he had consumed the 27 gallons I in the space of a week or two prior to the 3rd February, witness then explained that he gave drinks to auy of his customers that came iv, and sub-equently amended his evidence by stating that a great portion of the beer was bad, and was outside in his yard, not fit for use. By this time Mr Carew's patience was about exhausted, and he sternly ordered the defendant to leave the box, informing him in the same breath that he was fined £20 and costs, or iv default one month's imprisonment. The Auckland Star writes as follows respect ing Tawkiao's projected visit to England :— " It is now tolerably certain that his arrangements for a visit to England are fairly well advanced. Topia, the Wanganui chief, and Henare Tomoaua, the Maori member of the House ot Representatives, accompany him, each finding £100 for the expenses. Sydney Taiwhanga and Mr M'Beth have tried to faston themselves on to tho mission', and to appear as the promoters of it, but it is reliably stated that Tawhiao has not been swayed by their representations, but had long ago resolved upon this expedition. He has even had some tatoo marks lidded to his thickly-lined visage to aid the impression he desires to make in the metropolis of Britain. We have no doubt his appearance will be hailed with acclamation by the Aborigines Protection Society, and he will see the sights of the modern Babylon. If he avoids indulgence in his weakness for vxdpero he may even pass muster as an exemplary Christian gentleman ; but politically, of course, his mission can produce nothing except the gain to the Colony which the impression 'of England's greatness may have upon his unsophisticated mind." During Earl Rosebery's stay in Sydney bowrote a letter to Dr Badham, Dean ot the Faculty of Arts at the Sydney University, •covering a cheque for 50 guineas to provide two prizes tor English essays, one to be competed for by graduates, and the other by undergraduates of the University ; the subject of the graduates' essay to be " The Future of the Australian Colonies," and of the undergraduates' essay " The Growth of the Australian Colonies and their Present Relations to the Mother Country." In connection with the Lord Mayor's festivities in London last November, placards posted up at Clerkemvell called on the unemployed workpeople of London to organise huge meetings to denounce the servile revellers who feast while thousands of men, women, and children are starved to death. The bitter diatribe ended thus : " Many who will partake of this night's feast have fattened and grown rich out of the rents of the filthy slums which disgrace this city. Worse housed than the beasts of the field, starving and wretched, our poverty dealt with as a crime, members of our class have been done to death within the workhouse and prison walls." The police, it is said, prevented a Socialist procession, with a black flag inscribed " Starv ation," approaching the Guildhall during the Lord Mayor's banquet. A small telegraph cable will be laid down shortly between Tiritiri Island, whera the unfortunate steamer Triumph struck, arid the mainland. _ This will accomplish two or three objects : it will form part of the general system of New Zealand coastal defence, it will serve to signal any future shipping disaster in tho locality, and it will also make the arrival of the San Francisco mail known considerably sooner thau at present. Garnet Walch, writing in the Melbourne Argus on Madagascar affairs, says: " I must say, however, that, so far as I can gather while at Tamatave, the French have no idea of forcing the running. Theirs is at present a waiting game. They have a mere handful of men, and next^to no funds at all, available for operations in Madagascar. All they can do is to blockade the ports and harry a few villages. Their men-of-war may as well be at Tamatave as at any other station. An reste, they enjoy the game of besieging Hovas, who are miles away up amongst the hills, and who are affected by the blockade in about the same extent as a mosquito impedes a rhinoceros. The people who are really suffering are the unfortunate traders on the coast and the planters, whose crop of sugar cannot be cut for want of labour." That a Railway Board is badly needed in Victoria is apparent from the following statement by Mr L. L. Lewis in describing his efforts to get information at Spencer street

terminus respecting some wheat which he wanted brought down for shipment: — "Today, finding the wheat had not yet arrived at tho ship's side, I again called ou Mr Barter, and asked him if he could tell me how many trucks had been sent from Numurkah to the Cairnbulg. H« replied, 'That is not my department. You had better see Mr Fyfe.' I then went to Mr Fyfe, to whom I put the same question. His reply was, ' That is not in my department. I cannot give you any information.' I then mildly asked if I could be informed where I could learn anything about the matter. Mr Fyfe said perhaps in the yardsman's office. I asked where this was, and was told about a mile off. I then walked with Mr Fyfe to the semaphore, and saw the yai'daman. I asked him if h6 could tell me how many trucks of wheat had gone to the ship beforenamed from the Numurka station. He also replied, 'No ; they kept no record of these things.' I asked who did, to which he replied, 'Perhaps the inspector.' We then went to the inspector's office, and a like reply was received."