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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2110, 8 October 1875, Page 2

There was no businpss of any kind to be disposed of in the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day. Professor Bruce, phrenologist and mesmerist, will give the first 'of his seances at the Theatre Royal this evening. During a lengthened tour on the Australnsian continent and in the outhcrn Pr 'vinces of New Zealand the Professor lias received very favourable notices at the bands of the Press for his success in the delineation of character and in his electro-biological manifestation?, the attractivenes of which will we expect secure for Mr Bruce good houses during his stay on the Thames. Judsino by some late additions to the mural literature of the Thames we shall soon be favored wita a visit from some stars of the theatrical firmament, and LAWEENCE will be one of them. A letteb from "Very b'eedy " is excluded, because the writer has failed to comply with our rule by appending his real name and address. It is stated that the Government have referred the Ohinemuri evidence to the Solicitor-General for his opinion as to whether Brissenden and O'llalloran can be prosecuted criminally.

Considerable surprise has been expressed publicly in Auckland at t.lio unexpected decision of the Justices of the Peaco in dismissing the charge against William Kir by of assault with intent, &c, uport the person of a married woman named J3ain. The magistrates stated tliat no prima facie case had been made out against th<s accused, alfhough the complainant and his wife gave evidence on oath of the particulars of the alleged of fence, from which it would appear that \ the attempt had been made, or that Bain | and wife were guilty of pei'jury and con- j spiracy, for which they should have been ; indicted. No 'evidenco was offered for the defence, and the acquittal of the accused seems to have been solely owing to ] the eloquent pleading of his counsel, Mr C. H. Joy. The latter writes to the Cross and states that the Justices of the Pence exercised the " discrei ional" power given to them under the 58th section of tlie Justices of the Peace Act, 1866. It j is stated iii one of the Auckland papers ; tlvtt the case will probably bo brought on again, as it was clearly one that ought to have been sent to a higher court. T-TE Tribune states that it is probable the work of the session will be completed by, and Parliament prorogued on the 20th ! instant. If this be correct the session will terminate much sooner than was aniicipated some weeks back, when the struggle commenced over the Abolition Bill. The Local Government Bill has evidently been shelved, possibly with a view to a more acceptable measure beingprepared for the consideration of,the new Parliament. The committee of the Borough Council appointed to decide upon the offer of the Church Mission Trastees to. sell twentyacres of land for a reservoir at Parawai, at £30 per acre, have deckled not to a cept the offer. It is perhaps to be regretted that the Committee cculd not see th^ir way to this purchase, as the land is increasing, in value, aud the worth of the land for the purpose indicated is not denied, but the state of the Borough finances seems to have influenced the Committee in coininr. to the decision above stated. We learn that it is probable arrangements will shortly be perfected for the erection of a battery at Karangahake. A i [ number of- gentlemen who lately visited I the Prospoctors' aud other claims have satisfied themselves that the prospects i are sufficiently encouraging to induce the ! outlay of capital, and it will vow rest chiefly with the claimholders to arrange terms. There is no doubt that the erection of a crushing mill would tend largely to give a much desired impetus to mining at Karangahake, and it is to be hoped that the negociationa now in progress will be satisfactorily adjusted. List Saturday evening, says the Bay of Plenty Times, an Armed Constabulary boatj loaded with long Snider rifles on its way from TeTeko to Ohiwa, opsized, and all the arms, &c. were totally lost The arms were being taken down to Ohiwa for shipment on board the s.s. Eowena, to be returned. Wjs (Bay of Plenty Times) perceive by the estimates that Captain Turner, District Engineer, has been appointed to the" charge of public works in the Upper Waikatoand Thames districts, in addition to tho eof the Bay of Plenty. We congratulate Captain Turner on his promotion to a more extended field of operations —a step which his indefatigable zeal and able administration during the rive years he has been in charge of the Bay of Plenty district fully warrant—and the Government on the discrimination they have evinced in the selection of an officer to fill the vacancy caused in the Upper Waikato and Thames districts by the resignation of Mr W. H. Clarke, Civil Engineer. Tauranga will still be Cap.tain Turner's head-quarters. The special correspondent of the Herald says :-r-" Colonel McDonnell has been officially called on by the Defence Office to account for his possession of the letter from Mr J. S. Macfarlane to Mr Brissenden, alleged to have been stolen from the Club. Mr Brissenden wrote to the Defence Minister complaining of Colonel McDonuell's conduct as unbecoming an officer and a. £entieman." — The Cross' special referring to a transaction of a similar character —at least of one which has a suspicious surrounding, says : —" Bye-the-bye, the writer of the envelope which was addressed to Sir George Grey, and posted at the Thames, and which envelope contained the abstracted letter addressed by Mr O'Halloran to Cripppn, has been traced. I have seen the address on another envelope, said to be writ; en by a person connected with j the Sliortland Sawmill Company, and resident at the Thames. The words " Wellington, New Zealand" ou this address, are a fuc simile of the same words on the envelope addressed to Sir George Gi*ey, and containing the purloined letter, which he delivered to the Native Minister on discovering what it was, There can be no doubt of the similarity ; it requires no caligraphic expert to detect the same handwriting on each envelope." The following is the gratifying result in a pecuniary sense of an entertainment civen in aid of the funds of-the Tauranga ! Mechanics' Institute : — To|al receipts, I £23 16s 6d; expenses for hall, lighting, music, &c, £7 10s 8d; thus leaving a balance to credit of the institute of £16 5s lOd. For a small community like Tauvanga we think the result would compare favorably with similar efforts in j much larger and wealthier districts. The New Zealand Herald concludes an article on the new Representation Bill as follows : —" The fact is, that under the present crude and preposterous, and we must add corrupt, plan of our quinquennial re-arrangements, the so-called adjustment consists simply in additions made by giving new representatives in the most glaring cases. The Thames gets its { one more member, and is expected to be ac rest and be thankful, while we have enumerated a dozen constituencies in other provinces whoso combined population is less than that of the Thames. According to the improved Government scale of merit, an elector of Totara, Cheviot, or Wallace is worth five electors of the City of Auckland, or tenof Grahamstown and Coromandel. The province of Westland (a' goldfield like the Thames), with less than 20C0 electors, is to have five members, while the Thames, with 85CD electors, is to be, as an act of special grace, put off with two. The representation of the people in the lower House of the Assembly is only one of the subjects tliat cry out for attention and reform ; but it is the most urgent of all, and that by means of which "we may hope that others may be attained."