WESTPORT DISTRICT COURT.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 325, 15 August 1868, Page 7

WESTPORT DISTRICT COURT.

The following is the Calender for the sittings of the District Court of Westport North, in its Criminal Jurisdiction, to be holden at Westport on Tuesday 18th August instant: — Regina v. Melville. Obtaining money under false pretences. „ v. M'Donald. Larceny. „ v. Darmstadt. Violent assanlt. „ v. Leathern. Obtaining goods under false pretences.

The monument ordered by the Yates' Memorial Committee is nearly finished, and may be expected from Nelson, where it is being manufactured, In a few days. Its cost will be £67 15s, the railings will amount to about £2O more, and for these sums the Committee are responsible. As yet there is a small deficiency in the sums gathered, but we are sure that this has only to be known to get ten times the sum required. The escort arrived on Wednesday from Charleston, and all three banks sent gold. They decline, however, for reasons best known to themselves, to furnish the press with the quantities, thoughexact returns are freely given in every other town in New Zealand, and we are unable therefore to furnish other than an approxima f e estimate. This escort was not so heavy as the last, and was about 3000oz. Some time ago we directed attention to the fact of the fishing grounds that exist off this port being wholly uncared for, though a small fortune for the first plucky individual who goes into the speculation, is waiting. There is an abundance of ling, habuka, and other

species of fish, not forgetting our old friends the barracouta, to be caught with lines even, just outside the bar, and if proper trawl nets were procured there is little doubt that the same kinds, including the true sole as caught offtheOtago Heals, would be got in plenty. Our bar during summer time is passable at all times nearly and even wartermen's boats can frequently, cross it without the slightest danger, so there is nothing whatever to prevent the fish being brought to market without difficulty, and in splendid condition. There are plenty of small vessels on the Coast that could be fitted up for the purpose, and there are auy number of men who have had long experience as fishermen in the old country. If no single iudividual likes to risk such a speculation surely it would pay a small company to do so. There is an almost unlimited market, and the fact of having a change from our beef and mutton diet would be hailed with great satisfaction by the public round, miners as well as townspeople.

Wednesday the Foley Troupe gave their first entertainment at the Theatre Royal, late Adelphi, in Gladstone street, in which a considerable amount of improvement, as far as the interior fittings are concerned, had bee n effected. The house was crammed in every part and many who had taken reserved tickets were obliged to content themselves with second price seats, although every effort was made, on the part of the manager, by the aid of chairs, &c. to accommodate visitors The performance opened with Madame Tournear on the tight rope, which was extended from the stage to the inner bar. It is needless to say that her formerly well won laurels on this very limited stage were fully maintained. A duet by Master and Miss Foley, of the mature ages of 7 and 10 years respectively, followed, and elicited an encore. A fancy dance by Madame Tournear, songs, the " Nelson Races," and " My Little Nelly," acrobatic feats and a Maori extravaganza by Mr Temple concluded the first part of the entertainment. Apropos of the Maori extravaganza, much credit is due to Mr Temple for his very accurate representation of Maori character, but at the same time if his pantomime was not quite so natural, as far as insect life is concerned, we think Europeans generally would be quite as well satisfied. The second part consisted of comic songs by Mr Temple, which were very well received, dancing &c, the closing item being the ascent and descent of little Johnny, on a wire cordextendod from the stage to the boxes - The litfellow did his part cleverly and gallantly, and received the applause that his actually painful feat, as far as look-ers-on were concerned, deserved. A slippery wire cord stretched that distance, with a fearfully dangerous fall in case of a foot slipping, is a performance that few children of his years have ever ventured. He got through it successfully, however, and will one day be a star iu the profession he has commenced. The Swiss Cottage concluded the entertainment, and in it little Johnny and Katey shone again and did credit to their instructors, whoever they may be. The Government have completed the river bank protection at the Esplanade and it now remains for the holders of ground opposite to it, to fill in the chasmleft as finished under Government supervision. It will take from 150 to 200 yards of sand, and has to be paid for by the residents near to it. As may be imagined, this gives anything but unbounded satisfaction, and it seems as though the work would be delaj-ed for an indefinite time. A correspondent writes to enquire what is the sum fixed by the Hospital Committee for paying patients ? We are unable to afford the information required, but we believe that it is £3 per week. If this is the sum, it is preposterous we conceive, though it is possible so high a charge is made, in order to keep that class of patients out of the hospital. Messrs Simon and party, the prospectors of Deadmau's Terrace, Thursday morning came on the main bottom run of gold in their tunnel, and the prospect obtained is very good. Simon and party are the prospectors of this Terrace, and for some time were the only men on the ground, many being of opinion that it was a bad spec. After a few weeks others began to tunnel near them, and at the present time there are about 200 men engaged on the Terrace. The prospecting party make now the third claim on gold.

Thursday the Foley Troupe gave their second entertainment and though no so inconveniently crowded as the pre vious evening the house was more than well filled. The first piece was the extravaganza of "The Happy Man," and in it the comic powers of Johnny Foley as Paddy Murphy shone

out extraordinary, his sister playing " Koket " with great archness and humour. The other characters were exceedingly well filled, and the piece ran smoothly and well throughout. The second part opened with a duet by Johnny and Katey Eoley, which was very well received, and Madame Tournear then gave the Highland fling in the style that she only of those at present on the New Zealand boards, i* capable of. Miss Foley sang " Barney O'Hea," and little Johnny followed with a nigger song in character, which was enthusiastically encored, and responded by singing another song of the same class, which was also most deservedly applauded. The little fellow's comic abilities are of the highest order, and he retired with well won laurels. After this Miss Foley achieved the wire rope walking feat, with both eas3 and grace, the spectators evidently being far more nervous during its performance than the child herself. She received at its conclusion a well merited round of applause, which was in every way deserved. The finale was "Sam Slick or the Yankee Pedlar," in which Mr W. H. Foley filled the character of" Sam Slick." In this Mr Foley has already earned well merited approbation, and we need only say that on this occasion, he in every way maintained his reputation as a clever Yankee comedian. During the evening Mr Foley announced that the company would play to-night and to-morrow evening, and we doubt not, to full houses. We take the following from the Southland News : —" A cruel hoax was perpetrated on Thursday evening last, at the Carandini Concert. "While Miss Fannie Carandini was singing' When the Quiet Moon is Beaming,' a messenger hastily entered the dress-circle, and delivered to the Captain of the Invercargill Volunteers, (James Harvey, Esq.) what appeared to be a genuine telegraphic despatch, enclosed in the ordinary official envelope. On opening the missive, Captain Harvey, found that it contained an order to muster the Southland Volunteers in readiness to proceed to the North, to assist in quelling the Native Eebellion. Unmindful of etiquette at such a moment, Captain Harvey at once stepped over to a brother officer who sat near by, and hurriedly communicated the intelligence, which in a few moments circulated amongst several leading citizens present, who were so startled that some eight or ten of them at once rose and left the Theatre to join in consultation outside. This proceeding was, of course, quite unintelligible to the fair artiste, who appeared for the moment quite disconcerted at what must have seemed, to say the least, very extraordinary conduct. We understand that at the " council of war " it was determined to send a messenger to Eiverton ; and a constable was hastily sworn in for the purpose, by a J. P. (John Blacklock, Esq., the Provincial Treasurer); who happened to be present. All this occurred in less time than it takes to tell it—' the news,' in fact, spreading like wildfire, aud losing nothing by the way. Among the Volunteers present, the call' to arms ' seemed to act very differently, according to the peculiar idiosyncrasy of the individual members. A few (a precious few) appeared delighted with the prospect of a ' brush with the natives ;' others looked pale, and determined to do their duty ; while other?, again, looked pallid, and equally determined ' not to go North for anybody.' It is but just to say that these constituted but a very small minority. How much further the joke might have been carried but for the opportune discovery that the " dispatch" was a forgery, is more than we can say. Threats both loud and deep of how they would treat the joker if they could but catch him were, of course, uttered by the indignant Volunteers, who, as they began to recover their presence of mind, reflected that in the present state of the law they could not be ordered to serve out of the province." A writer of an interesting column in the Melbourne Leader, headed " Under the Verandah," asks :—" What think you of £3900 for a ship of say 2600 tons ? Who wouldn't be a shipowner when big ships are going a-beg-ging in that fashion ? Thirty shillings a ton for a Melbourne and Liverpool liner! Ships, like racehorses, wear out and break down, and as they can't be put to the drawing of dung-carts or the feeding of hounds, they are sold (probably in damaged condition) to be huge sea-going coffins for the watery interment of a few hundred Irish or G-erman emigrants. The good old ship White Star, late of the White Star line, has been sold out of the line for £3900 ! She may be cheap, but, on the other hand, she may not." It is well known that Lord Lyndhurst and his family were all longlived ; but a long long life seems to

have been common to the Broughams as well as to the Compleys. Lord Lyudhurst's mother lived to 90, and saw her son seated on the woolsack ; Lord Brougham's mother lived to be 98, and did the same thing. Lord Brougham's grandmother was 93, at her death in 1807, and his great-aunt, whom he well remembered as a child, and with whom he had often conversed, died in 1786 at the age of 106, having been born in the reign of Charles 11., and having therefore lived in the reign of no less than, seven sovereigns in succession. Indeed, six generations of the Brougham family, according to Sir Bernard Burke, carry us back well into the reign of Elizabeth. Cruelties at Sea. —Atrocities committed on board the Lydia, the details of which are too revoltingto be reported in full, have been investigated at the Liverpool Police-Court, by Mr Karnes, stipendiary magistrate. Ansel Larkin, chief officer of the ship Lydia, hailing from Nova Scotia, was charged, on May 26, with the wilful murder of Donald M'Donald, one of the crew, and Denis Foreman Schofield, the captain, was charged with being an accessory before the fact. He, Larkin, and Erancis Carrol, the second mate, were also charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm upon several of the crew. In the course of his opening statement Mr "Walter, prosecuting solicitor, remarked that in March last the vessel was at Black Eiver, Jamaica, where she shipped a number of coloured men as additional hands. She sailed for Liverpool on March 21, and when she had been about five weeks at sea the deceased and a Dutchman named Ellis quarrelled. Larkin came up at the time and struck M'Donald violent blows on the face. In consequence of this treatment he was unable to do his work. He was found lying under a boat, and was dragged _ out by the chief officer, who beat him about the head with a large iron belaying pin, the captain being on the poop at the time, and stimulating Larkin in what he did. M'Donald died four days after the assault was committed upon him. The man Ellis and Nathan Stephens, the under cook, were called as witnesses. They spoke to seeing Larkin beat the deceased about the head and face with a belaying pin, knock him down, and kick him about the head, face, and chest, in a most brutal manner. They described the state the poor fellow was in just before his death as awful. His head, face and chest, were so swollen that he did not look like a human being; he could not speak; offensive matter was running from his mouth and ears; his mouth was so much cut that the lower lip hung down underneath the jaw, and the stench from his body was quite sickening. Other witnesses were examined who gave confirmatory evidence Some of them said they heard the captain call out to the mate, as he was beating the deceased with the belaying pin, to " lay it on the son of a ." Another spoke to hearing the captain tell Larkin to fetch M'Donald out by therun, andthatwhen the latter complained to the captain of the treatment he had received, the captain told him he had no pity for him—it served him right. They all spoke to the horrible state in which M'Donald was prior to his death. Mr Bradley, house surgeon to the Northern Hospital, who heard the whole of the evidence, had not the slightest doubt that the mans death was caused by the injuries described. Both prisoners were committed to take their trial on the charge of wilful murder, the magistrate refusing to accede to the application of Mr Cobb, who defended the captain, that the latter might be admitted to bail.

A Man his own Grandfather. — The following remarkable coincidence will be read with interest:—Sometime since it was announced that a man at Titusville, Pennsylvania, committed suicide, for the strange reason that he had discovered that he was his : own grandfather. Leaving a dying statement explaining this singular circumstance, we will not attempt to unravel it, but give his own explanation of the mixed up condition of his kinsfolk in his own words. He says. "I married a widow who had a grown-up-daughter. My father visited our house very often, fell in love with my step-daughter, and married her. So my father became my son-in.law, and my step-daughter my mother, because she was my father's wife. Some time afterwards, my wife gave birth to a son; he was my father's brother-in law, and my uncle, for he was the brother of my step-mother, My father's wife — i.e. my step daughter—had also a son; he was, of course, my brother, and in the meantime my grandchild, for he was the son of my daughter. My wife was my grandmother, because she was my m other's mother. I was my wife's husband and

the grandchild at the same time. Au'l as the husband of a persons grandmother is his grandfather, I was my own grandfather." After this logical conclusion, we are not surprised that the unfortunate man should have taken refuge in oblivion. It was the most married family and the worst mixed that we ever heard of Montgomery Mail. A Fearful Sight.—On Saturday a ghastly spectacle was witnessed near St. Louis which sent a thrill of horror through the city and makes all Christendom stand aghast. About one hundred coffins were seen floating and dancing, gleaming and swamping on the bosom of the Mississippi river. This solemn voyage of death and awful procession of the dead over the glassy waves of the treacherous river of death, was explained by the fact that the graves of the cholera victims at Arsenal island have been invaded by the current of the river, and the graves opened, allowing the coffins and uncoffined dead to float away toward Dixie. None of them reached Memphis, as it is supposed the coffins were caught at Cairo to see What was in them.— Memphis Avalanche, April 22 nd.