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Thames Advertiser, Volume X, Issue 2749, 11 October 1877, Page 2

The steamer 'Go-ahead' came down last evening in place of the 'Momahana,' the latter vessel having been laid up for an overhaul for a few days, Captain Farquhar was compelled to remain behind owing to sickness in his family, and the ' Go ahead' was brought down by his chief officer. She brought a large cargo of sheep and general merchandise.'' The fresh nomination of synodsmen for the representation of St. George's Church took place yesterday, when Messrs B. T. Wildman, Thomas Spencer, W, J, Speight, and IS. H. Power were duly accepted as candidates by the Keturning Officer, H. C. Lawlor, Esq, J.P, The voting will tako place on Monday nexf t Voting papers will be sent by post to each elector, returnable to Mr Lawlor up to 4 p.m. on Monday. One of the candidates for election addresses the voters as follows:—" As one of those candidates who have been nominated for' election'as Synodsmen for this district, I desire respectfully to call your attention to the fact that this election is in many respects the most important of any in which we have been called upon to take part. At the present time there is a disposition evinced by some members of the Church ot England in this colony to endeavour to sever the connection which has hitherto existed between it and the Church in the mother country, This inclination mainly exists in the minds of the clergy of a particular school. Why this separation should be sought for by the persons indicated it is not difficult to surmise. The main bond of union which unites us to the mother Church consists in the obedience due by our bishops and clergy to the rulings ond judgments, in matters of doctrine and of discipline, of _ the English (ecclesiastical authorities Let this wholesome restraint upon the actions of the clergy be taken away, and the Church of England in New Zealand becomes reduced to the same level as any of those religious secis usually termed 'dissenting.' Worse than this—the immediate result of such a severance would be to cause endless turmoil and confusion inside our Church in the endeavour to settle and unsettle the nature of the doctrines and practices which should be taught in the colonial Church. The greatest security which- can be afforded us for the preservation of the Reformed Church of England, and the maintenance of its distinctive features, as opposed to those of the Church of Koine, is obtained by a complete unity existing between the different branches of the Church of England; a oneness in all things relating to fundamental principles; and should any sec-i tion of the Church in New Zealand ever succeed in casting off the oversight practised by the authorities in England, it will at the same time succeed in dismembering the Church itself. No retrogression such as that just indicated can be made except through the action of the Synods of the colony, and if in those Synods there be found a lay representation opposed to Buch changes in Church government, then no such change can be made. It therefore becomes the duty of all voters for lay representatives to cast aside all feelings of a personal nature, friend* ship or otherwise, and vote to return such members as will resist, to the utmost all innovations of this nature. In the interest of all Church members, tho Synodsmen who are to he elected should see to the amendment of the statute of the Synod relaliui to the mode to be adopted by persons seeking to become voters for members of Synod. The present statute- is unnecessarily conservative in its operation, and needs amending. Every person who signs the churchwarden's book, making a declaration that he is a member of the Church of England, should become, by the mere fact of his so doing, a voter at all the elections connected with the Church. The present system, which requires a separate registration at a stated period of the year, to qualify a member to_vote, should be abolished, as it is a form which but a fraction of our Church members are aware of as existing, and which should not be required unless the object be to narrow down as much as possible the number of voters in each district. I have forwarded a notice to the Synod with a view to the amendment of the statute in this particular' direction, and,sh6uld'l be, elected, I hope to be able to.get such amendment passed into law, as I believe every possible facility should be given to induce the laity of the Church to take a more active part in its government ' Trusting that, in exercising your vote, yon will recognise the importance of sustaining the principles I have alluded to,—l am, yours, most respectfully, WiiLUM J, Speight, "

There was a clean charge sheet at the Police Court, yesterday. We have to hand the particulars of the I rescue of the Maori prisoner under convoy to I Tarauaki from Opunake, to which reference was made in these columns a few weeks ago. It appears that the Maori named Mauu, a follower of the chief Titoko Waru, went into Bartlett's Hotel at Opunake lately, and asked for a glass of rum. Mrs Bartlett jdrew the liquor, and.handed it to the man, who, as soon as he received it, threw it over her. He then asked j for another glass, which was drawn and handed to him, and a shilling demanded as payment, Manu threw down a sixpence, and refused to pay for the liquor which he had spilled. A struggle then took place between landlady and customer, during which the top 'of one of Mrs Battlett's fingers was bitten off, and a quantity of her hair torn from be; bead, the woman having grasped the Maori by the throat, and the Maori the woman by her chignon. Assistance was speedily rendered to Mrs Bartlett, and th;i Maori was taken into custody. On Tuesday morning the prisoner was manacled and placed in the coach, in order to be sent up to New Plymouth for trial. Constable Draper tiok charge of the prisoner, in the coach, and two men of the A.C. force accompanied the coach on horseback, it having been rumoured that a rescue would be attempted. When the coach reached the Harriet beach it was surrounded by a party of about 30 Maoris, who .-topped the horses and pulled the prisoner out of tho coach, and took him away to I he. bush. Constable Draper struggled against the Maoris as long as he could, but being overpowered was obliged to yield. Both constables and natives were uuarmed on the occasion. A Port Chalmers telegram received yesterday says:—"Two distinct shocks of earthquake, preceded by low rumbling noises, were experienced last night at ten o'clock, the first shock lasting about twenty seconds, the second of much longer duration and more violent. Heavy rain followed." A pigeon race from Eakaia to Christchurch, 35 miles, was won by Mr Parker's Father Tom in 55 minutes. The prospectus of the Oainaru Stone Quarryrying and Export Company (Limited) has been issued, Capital, £25,000, in shares of £5 eacb. The immigrants per ship 'J. N. Fleming' to Dunedin have been rapidly engaged at the following wages:—Nurse girls, £20; general servants £25 to £30; female cooks, £45; male faTm servants, £50; jloughmon, £55; youths, £40; shepherds, £64. Telegrams reporting a sharp shock of earthquake at 9.58 on Tuesday night have been received from the following places: —N'aseby, Port Chalmers, Oamaru, Dunedin, Lawrence, Boxburgh, and Balclutha. All agree as to time, and direction, being north and south. A t Lawrence there was loud rumbling, and at Roxburgh heavy lightning. A select committee of the Upper House reports, in reference to the charges made by J. A. Wilson against Judge Bogan, that there were no grounds for attributing conupt or improper motives to him in his judicial decisions. Wilson himself says' throughout the whole of the unhappy case' he never intended to attribute such motives to Judge Bogan. The question now is, whether Mr |Kogan acted legally or illegally in respect to certain deeds, and the committee have declined to deal with points of law. The ship 'Yosemite,' which left Auckland in ballast on the 25th August, arrived safely at Newcastle on the 20th ultimo, after a rough passage of 26 days. Mr Severn, the lecturer, and his family were passengers. Some anxiety has been felt in Auckland in consequence of the ship being reported as not arrived.

The s.s. 'Rotorun,' 011 her last rim to Sydney, made the passage in 4 days 18 hours, arriving at 10 a.m. on Monday, the Ist inst. The s.s. 'Hero,' which left here exactly 24 hours after the 'Rotorua,' arrived at Sydney at 9.19 p.m. on Tuesday, 2nd, so that she lost between 11 and 12 hours in the run across. The following are the reports of the two passages as. published in $9 J&ydney Morning Herald'.— The 'Hero' (s.) left Auckland and cleared the heads at 1.30 p.m. on the 27th September; passed the Three Kings at 11.30 a.m. on the 28th,-and entered Sydney Heads at 9.15 p. m. on the 2nd inst. She experienced stag head winds to the North Cape, then northerly during the next two days, afterwards strong westerly gate with heavy rain squalls, and heavy sea up to arrival in port. The s.s, 'Rotorua'left Auckland on the 26 th September, sailing at 1 p.m. from the .Railway wharf; passed the Three Kings at 9.30 am. on the 27th. Experienced variable winds until in ibe longitude of lord Howe's Island, then strong N.W. winds until 3 p.m. on Sunday, when it suddenly shifted round to the southward, with hard squalls, heavy rain, and very vivid lightning, which continued last night; remainder of passage strong head winds and high seas; arrived in Port Jackson at 10 a,m. on the Ist instant, after a fast passage of 4 days 20 hours. Captain Kennedy informs us that there was a difference of 13 hours in the times of arrival at the wharf, but this might be ac' counted for by the ' Hero' going up the harbour in the dark. New Zealand War Medals are now lying at the Militia and Volunteer Office for the undermentioned persons, who are requested to apply .for the same, and, on proving their claims, can receive their medals:-John Campbell, 3rd Waikato Regiment; Alexander McNeil, 2nd "Waikato Regiment; H. F. Harrison, Armed Constabulary; M, Flanagan, Taranaki Military Settlers; A.Johnson, Armed Constabulary; J. Crotty, Ist 'Waikato Regiment; P. Meagher, Ist Waikato Regiment; Joseph Shirley, Napier Militia; Samuel Charles, Mauku Forest Rangers; George Spencer, Wanganui N.C.; James Curlett, Colonial Defence Force.

The long-talked'of billiard match between H. Roberts and Perkins (of Auckland) for £50 a'Side came off at the Occidental Hotel on Tuesday, Roberts conceding 175 points in a thousand. The game commencedat 8.20 p.m., and for the first 150 was pretty level, no breaks of any account being made. When Roberts' seore stood at ,197 he made a splendid break of 72, which seemed to put him in a good humoor, for from this point of the game he rapidly overhauled his opfonent, so that the merest novice could perceive that the game was a certainty. Perkins did not appear in anything like his proper form, and fairly acknowledged that the itrangerwastoo good, which assertion Eoberts bore out, as he scored well every time he took up the cue. VSken Perkins' score stood 683 someone in the room asked him to make a break, and, pulling himself together a bit, he gamely responded to the call by putting on 53, made in splendid style. It was, howrver, too late to do any gooi, for JRoterts, by a succession of small breaks, ran up to 1,000, the game being—Koberts 1,001, Perkins 778; Boberts thus winning by 222 points, in addition to 175 points given at the start.

The election of the first Mayor of Kumara, which took place lately, was a true goldfielda exhibition. The newly-elected Mayor was taken in hand by his friends and escorted round the pubs, followed by a thirsty throng.' At every hotel whose proprietor had supported liim a halt was made, and the health of "the Mayor" duly pledged, At Mr Ancher's hotel, where the fire brigade had rendezvoused, the men turned out, manned their carriage, and placed the Mayor on it, he having donned " a red jucket and a brass helmet." The procession again started, and at the theatre another halt was made. Here the threatre was quickly packed to the door, and the Mayor and brigade took possession of the stage. His Worship once again returned thanks for the honour done bim. The procession was reformed, and soon reached the Queen's Hotel (the Mayor's). All were invited to enter, and champagne became the order of the night. The brigade then bad a practice on the Mayor's buildings with ladders and buckets, at the conclusion of which a "tableau," illuminated by coloured fires, .was improvised on the top of the hotel. The first Mayor of Kumara, clad in his fireman's dres?, was made the central figure, having the men of the brigade grouped on either side. The Empress Eugenie has left Spain, and returned to her residence at Chiselhurst.

At a mseting of tlio directors of the United Pumping Association, held yesterday, a sum of £10 was voted towards the fund now being raised for the rescuers on the occasion of the ia'e gas accident in theKuranui Hill workups The directors of the latter company vi re expcc'.ed, at their meeting last evening, t" vole a similar sum. The directors of the tj I'. A aho decidd to recommend tlie rescuers as worthy of having the Albert medal bestowed upon them, The Italian Opera Company are to open in Dunedin, under engagement for New Zealand by Mr Dc Lias, next week. Mr Thatcher is also bringing over on Mr De Lias's account for New Zealand the celebrated cornet player Levy, aucl a powerful company. M, J. 0. Jones, formerly of the Union Bank, Grabamstown, and now of Christen urch, was married yesterday at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland, by the Rev. Father Dwyer, to Miss Cousens, of Auckland. A telegram from the ex-Colonial Secretary re payment of Road Board subsidies, says the Treasury have arranged lo pay the subsidies for the year 1877 in two payments, namely, in the months of October, 1877, and March, 1878, Dr Sitae, Inspector., of Asylums, and Mr Benjamin McLean, late Inspector of the \Vhau, have been appointed 'by 'his Excellency the Governor to make an inquiry into the circumstances connected with tho late fire at the Whau Asylum. The colonial-born shots held a meeting in Auckland on Tuesday evening, for the purpose of taking into consideration preliminaries for the international contest, when three methods were proposed for choosing representative men : —Ist. That the twelve best colonial shots should fire three matches, and that the eight highest in the aggregate should be tho team. 2nd. That Captain White should select the Qve best (there bang no question as to whom these five were), and that the six should choose the remaining two. 3rd. That Captain White should select one man, the two then should select a third, the three a fourth, and so on till eight had been chosen. It was iiually resolved that Captain White should call a meeting to decide upon the team, and the date of the firing. Mr Carru'hers, the Eugineer-iU'Cliief of New Zealand, has just sent in his bill to the Christchurch Drainage Board, amounting to £1,750, for which the Board have a report, the recommendations of which have been rejected, Mr Wakefield, iW.II.R-, has been burned in effigy by a section of his constituents. The following telegraphic correspondence over the affair has passed between the honorable gentleman and a leading resident at Waimafce :— "Waimate, 22nd September.—B. Wakefield, Esq., M.ES. They burned you in effigy here last night, Bather hot,"—"Wellington, 22nd September, Glad to hear it, Hope they liked it. What was the matter with them?—E. Wakefield." The Black Hills are yielding 100, OOOdols of gold per month.