The Evening Herald. SATURDAY, SEPT. 18, 1869.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 656, 18 September 1869, Page 2

The Evening Herald. SATURDAY, SEPT. 18, 1869.

Thk Df.ff.nce Mimptkr.—The Hon the Defence Yinister left here last night in t'heStnrt for Wellington.

Extended .Jurisdiction.—l he Government have complied with the prayer of the petition and extended the jurisdiction of the Resident IVfagistrate's Court in Wanganui and Manawatu district to *10Q.

Tipß sth Oct~ber.—The Rev. Mr £tnclc,in alectore lately delivered m Wellington on Astronomy, rtilluded -to Sir , prophecy respecting; comin g . atmospheric,xjißtnfbances, and aaicl that, it wns likely there would he hi^h tides about the time predicted, and possibly • pnles of wind, but it was impossible to foretell earth quakes, and if such then occurred it would only be a singular coincidence.

Masonic :Mi:GAZiirE. — The Otago Daily Times says :—" The first number of the New Zealand Masonic Magazine was published yesterday. It is a highly creditable production, containing 48 pages of letter, press, demy octavo, filled with, information of great interest to Freemasons, among vrhom it is intended to circulate. It reflects considerably credit on the conductor, Mr C. de L. Graham, as well as on the printers, Messrs Souter and Stock,; of this rcity. >

Gold Prospecting.—A meeting of gentlemen-favorable' to the organisation of a prospecting and exploring party was held last night at the Phcenix hotel. An association was formed, and the expenses guaranteed.of a party, with Mr Bracken at its head, to proceed direct to the gully where the gold was found. Mr Field, Town Surveyor, has agreed to accompany the party and lay off a track by the route, which wilt hereafter be associated with the name of Mr Gotty. A committee was'formed, and the public will shortly hear that energetic action has been taken. "■....■

Kawana Hunia—The Independent of the 14th says: —The celebrated Hunia, the chief of the Ngatiapa, was removed yesterday morning in a carriage from the Native Hostelry, en route for Rangitikei. He has been suffering from the bursting of a blood-vessel, and was hardly expected to live on Saturday last. (>n Sunday, however, he rallied, and desired to be taken to his own place among his tribe. It is to be hoped that his illness is not likely to prove fatal, rs his death just at this juncture would cause a serious delay probab'y in the amicable settlement of the Manawatu case, his personal influence being considerable.

The Mayawati; Case.-—The Manacase, it appears, is not likely to be settled so quickly and so amicably as some people expect. The Post says : "'lhe Maori claimants in the Mana-watu-Rangitikei case, lately heard before the Native Lands Court, are said to be much dissatisfied with the decision given. 'I hey are about to have a meeting at Waikanae to consider what course they ought to adopt. Those of the Ngatiraukawa, whose claims were disallowed, but who are actually in possession, will ndt very readily give up their places in consequence of the decision of the Court. It is not improbable that a good deal of trouble will yet be caused before the Province obtains possession of the land. .

\ The Batteries, thr Blue Jacket, thr PtuNKBTT.—A. singular correspond dent who recently returned from Melbourne, by way of the Bluff, and proceeded as far as Westpprt, tells a curious tale of Colonial newspaper purchasing. At Melbourne, he says, I purchased "a copy of an illustrated paper, in which appeared a few middlingly executed wood-cuts, prominent amonur which was a picture of Stamping Batteries, the Blue Jacket, and rather a prim likeness of the Hon. Mr Plunkett of Sydney. Well, I read this and came on to'Dunedin, where I found an " illustrated " paper published there. I bought one and put it in my pocket to read on the voya?e to Lyttelton. Judge of my astonishment, when j I found the same pictures and the same letter-press. At Cbristchurch, I bought another pictured newspaper, the Illustrated Press, (I had a mania for.buying illustrated papers then, it is cured now), and behold! there were the same Stamping Batteries, the same inevitable Blue Jacket, the same irrepressible Mr Plunkett! "Sold again!" thought I, and for the last time, surely. At Wellington I bought an English illustrated London News ; there was no local art, real or pretended, in the wav of a pictured press there. I came to Nelson, and discovered the Illustrated Examiner! I bought again, half suspecting, yet willing to be fooled. Of course, once more Plunkett,—again the blazing Blue Jacket—again the ceaseless Batteries. I fled on board a little steamer, determined to bury myself in the vast solitudes of the West Coast, to be haunted no more by these cheap books of Modern " Art." (Put the w«rd in big letters, for I mean artful doilgery. I got to Westport— primitive, unpretending little town, with its manifold publics, et cetera. Here, ! methoujrht, I am safe from the punish - I ment of pictures, free from the batteries' noise and the flames of the burning Blue [ Jacket, and rid for ever of 4he» shade of Plunkett. I walked placidly'through the cleanly streets (there is no mud, because the soil is sandy and absorptive). Suddenly, Voila /—The Hhutrated Westport Times ! Determined to know the i worst, I entered and paid my money, i "Bang went saxpense,"as Punch says1 (and it was a tall .Scotchman who took j the coin.). There it was again! The Batteries! the Bhie Jacket!!" the Plun- I kett 1!! I fled ito the nearest public, and { forveeks have teen in a state of coma, from which I only recovered this morn-1 ing on seeing an article in the Westport I Times, which I beg you to copy along I •with my confession of picture dealing, and the humbug of illußtrajjvjsjariginality.—Evening Post.

Db Hector on the Kaimanawa.—On referring to Dr Heptor's report on the geological survey of New Zealand, we find that, after visiting the Taupo country in 1868, he says :—" There are good reasons for expecting that the Kaimanawa ranges will prove auriferous; but prospecting parties have been frequently out during the last two years without obtaining any practical results." Again at a meeting- of the Wellington Philosophical Society, on the 17th July, 1869, in answer to a question put by Mr Marchant, Dir Hector stated ""that at Taranaki similar volcanic rocks occur as at the Thames, but no slate rocks had yet been found associated with them, which was required to complete the similarity of conditions, at the same time he had seen very likely looking specimens from the Kaitaki ranges, but they had not yielded gold on analysis. The most marked junction of the trachytic rocks with the slates he had met with was on the west side of the Kaimanawa range, south of Taupo lake, and. to which he had referred in a recent reportl"