LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XX, Issue 2224, 27 June 1865, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Ministry.— Tho rumor we noticed in our last appears to be only partially correct. Mr J. C. Richmond is to bo included in Mr Weld's ministry as Colonial Secretary, but he does not take that gentleman's position us head of the Government. The CAUFORxrAN Oracirs.— Owing to the inclemency of the weather, Messrs Grreenberg'a, Califoruian Circus will not open until furthew notice. Yesterday the proprietors were unforbuJ 7iate enough to lo.se a tuupalin, with which the| were going to cover the ring. The wind was h|> boisterous, that in attempting to raise it on to t-ljjo pole it was blown to shreds. f Theatre Eoyal. — On Saturdny evening, Mr Tom Fawcett held his benefit, and a fair house assembled to witness the production of " The Lady of Lyons " and " A Pair of I J igoons.¥ Both the drama and the farce were vertf well sustained, and received the applause thes deserved. We understand that the lessees intend introducing Richard the 111, Othello, and other weil-ltuown Shakespearian plays ab au early date,

ft Proposed Theatre.-— A public meeting o* c gentlemen desirous to advise measures for the oreelion of a suitable building to be used as a 0 fhcatre will take place in the course of tho week, a when Messrs Towers &Co will be prepared with x tin offer ofleasing any such building for a term of years. We understand that it is contemplated to 1 organise a company, in which the price of the fc shares will be so trifling that they will be sure to go oil' rapidly. 3 Civil Service Dramatic Ci-üb.— We would remind our readers that, the members of tho above L club make their second appearance before a Wel--3 lington public this evening with an attractive \ programme. It is not to bo expected that, the performances of amateurs can equal those o[ Messrs Towers' Star Company, so visitors to the j l Theatre Royal must not too severely criticize. , Were tho talent of the amateurs absolutely nil, [ the object of their appearing before the public ' would be sufficient in itself to draw a bumper [ house. When mentioning that the proceeds of the entertainment, after payment of expenses will ' be devoted to the relief of the widows and orphans of the seamen and others lost in the illfated City of Dunedin, we offer perhaps the strongest reason why the people of Wellington should give the performance their strongest support, and we feel assured that they will cordially patronize the club whenever the object of their ' eutertainment is so praiseworthy. The ZET3RAS. — The other morning while taking ' a little pedestrian exercise along the beach, our attention was arrested by two diminutive quad- ' rupeds enveloped in horse-cloths. The two animals were led into Mr Foley's tent amid the applause of some small boys who muttered " them's the Zebra's." We had often heard of Striped creatures of the equine genus, indigenous ' to Southern Africa, but in all our visits to the ' Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, had never met with one, After coming all the way to New Zealand we were more fortunate. Tho exclamation j of the juveniles excited our curiosity, and while! we were weighing the probabilities of obtaining a '■ closer inspection by going and enquiring at tho! tent for some imaginary individual, we heard a ' commotion going on inside. The canvass house swayed to and fro, and out rushed a small striped quadruped followed by a man. Tho little animal ! pleased at being once more free, capered and j danced about the reclaimed land. The man tried to lure it back to its prison, but for some time : without avail; at length after haying had a look round the pretty creature trotted up to his master j and permitted himself to be led quietly home. This then was the striped horse we had heard and read so much about ; it could not be ; did not men, cunning in the manners and customs of i the creatures affirm that they were untamcable ? Had not Jules Gerard, of whose death so many garbled accounts have been heard, and our own countryman, the famous lion slayer, Gordon dimming, furnished the most wonderful reports of their dislike to wholesome rsstraint and their savageness when caught? We were not satisfied, excited curiosity demanded a closer inspection, we rushed to the tent and not only looked over j the objects of our doubts, but came away assured that the stripes were natm'al and not the effect of a cunning dauber. That this race is not untameable wo had ocular demonstration, for tho best trained Shetland pony could not huYc been more docile and tractable than the.se children of the desert in the bunds of Mr Foley. Garkottixg ix Duxdedix. — Tliis civilized form of Thugism has at length appeared in Otago. From the Southern papers we learn that Mr G-. P. Cintbi-d, the Secretary to tho Acclimatization Society, was recently knocked down from. behind, and while insensible, was robbed of his purse containing a considerable sum of money. When knocked down, Mr Clifford had just entered tli» Acclimatization grounds, and was close to his own home. Mr Clifford had been engaged during the evening iv taking money at the doors of the theatre, during the Philharmonic Society's concert, and no doubt the thief supposed that, the money received w.is on the person of his victim. This, however, was not. the case, as it had been handed over to another. No trace of the perpetrator of the assault has been discovered." We trust that (.he yaiTolf-iiig fniternity will restrict their <1op»-c---datious to Dunediu and will not visit Wellington. Lt may be remembered that, not very long ago in London, city, men used to scud away to the suburbs in fear and trembling, and that' no person whose avocations called him out of his home after sundown went out unless armed with a lifepreserver or a pair of knuckle-dusters. Such a state of affairs would be the reverse of pleasant to the residents of cither To Aro or Thermion, and we hope the necessity will never arise. Gvm>*astic3.— Wellington must bear the name of a city of pleasure, as so many caterers to the public- tasle for amusement have already come and have announced their intention to come and set up in our midst.. Of those yet to appear (he most worthy of notice are a gymnastic troupe made up of some great stars, among tho list of whom we observe the names of Fraulcin Fannie, and the celebrated Leopold and Wielaud brothers, with their learned canine confrere Leo, so the programme presented must be a good one. It. is the fashion to say that Wellington is before her time, and that; at present (here is not room for more than one place of amusement. That may or may not be ; we have our own opinions and do not wish to argue the matter, but we consider on the more the merrier principle, that all who come are welcome, and that as long as any house of entertainment is conducted in an orderly manner its proprietors will have no cause to regret their visit. An influx of talent whether equestrian, gymnastic, or musical will always bo appreciated, and well supported. We do not think that the interests of the lessees of the Theatre Royal would suffer by the rivalry of cither a circus or a gymnasium, and we should be sorry should such be the case, as were they to give up the Odd Fellows' Hall it would be at once snapped up by others, who would indeed have to be excellent "to make up for the loss of Messrs Towers and Dunn. We feel confident that, if there is not at present, as some say, there soon will bo ample " room cnou"h for all."* How the Maoris were supplied with Ammunition-. — The following curious story of smuggling war materials to the Maoris, we clip from the JTawlces Bay Times -. — " lv reading the debate of March Id., in the British House of Commons, the manly speech of Mr Roebuck deserves the praise of all true colonists, and when lie traces one of the principal causes of tho war to the sordid few iv supplying the Maoris with the means of war he states a great fact, and it only requires looking through the customs' entries from 1855 to 1850 to see the immense quantities of war material imported into the colony by the Auckland merchants. The writer of thia was in the employ of a noted trading firm engaged in the native trade, owning a small schooner running from Auckland to tho Bay of Plenty trading with the natives with gunpowder, lead, and rum, arms of all sorts, from a George 11. musket to a minie rifle, tomahawks, and cartouch boxes ; in fact all the implements of war .coveted by their dusky customers. One of their common tricks to cheat the Customs was to enter the vessel with pork iv casks, and to clear out with empty casks and salt, the said casks, containing six or ten kegs of sporting powder and bags salt, containing each about lOOlbs of old lead, boxes of caps, &c, all these shipped in tho open day, rolled through Auckland streets, left standing on the wharf, and sold in tho Bay of Plenty. The old files of Auckland papers need only to be consulted to toll tales of cargoes of empty casks and tons of sash weights (lead, of course) for building purposes, in places where the i ' only buildings going up were raupo whares. The I writer of this, knew of one whare containing at one time seventy-two kegs of powder headed up , in tho way mentioned, and closo alongside an old potato hole with about a ton of leaden sash , weights in it. And all this carried on by a firm, , whose principal held office next to the Superin- • tendent, and ho wont home and with other Auek- ' > land merchants who had made their pile by Tower muskets and other honest merchandise, \ went in deputation to the Secretary of State for | the colonies and hoped that the war would be i carried on with vigor, and cruisers stationed to '. .prevent tho extensive smuggling by tlie \

* The Hutt Disturbances— All that is know); i of the assault on the police, which took place nJ . the Hutt, on Thursday lust, will be found in oui vuj)ort of yesterday's proceedings at the Police Court. Tho whole family of (he Buekeridgc's arc committed to lake theii' trial at the next Criminal Silting:) of the Supremo Court ; the two sons, John and Edward, for (lie first assault at the Lower Hull, which took place during the early part ot last -week; the father, mother, and two sisters for aiding and abetting them in resisting the myrmidons of the law when attempting to apprehend them on Thursday last. We do not desire to ! comment on the evidence adduced in support of the charge, neither will we at present enter into the peculiar circumstances of the case. The two sons, John and Edward, were occasioning annoyance f.o the public at the Lower Hutt, and the police rightly interfered. The family turned out wlien they saw one of themselves in what they considered personal danger, and, though their conduct was illegal, it was only natural. Coi*poral Kinselln and Constable Brady do not seem to have used an extra amount of harshness, and any force employed by them was rendered necessary by tho strongest provocation. An Otaki Exhibitor. — It is always a pleasant task to call attention to any branch of native in- ; cluatry, and we say a word or two on the present occasion about the rope manufactory of Mr William Davis, at Otaki, all the more readily, because i his name lias inadvertently been omitted from the list which we republished, of those who received honorary certificates at the Dunedin Exhibition. | Mr Davis exhibited some rope made from New Zealand flax, which was the only thing of tho ! kind that received a certificate. ' Tho following was the certificate given: — "Class XIX, 217. William Davies, Otaki, Wellington. Honorary certificate for excellent rope made from New Zealand flax." Mr Davis was also awarded a medal for specimens illustrative of the native flax manufacture, a circumstance which we congratulate him upon, as any one visiting liis pretty little pluce at Otaki and becoming acquainted with the arrangements he lias made to develops the usefulness of Jlfix in his rope jnnmifucfcury, will be convinced that he fully deserves it. We wish MiDavis' flax rope were bettor known, as it only requires that, to be more universally enquired for. Diutnkexness. — This vice is apparently on the increase judging from the very heavy police sheet of yesterday morning, where-in were the names of seven individuals each separately charged with being drunk. As may be noticed in our report of the proceedings at the Resident Magistrate's Court, the majority of the accused appeared before the Bench for the first time, and were not old offenders. Probably as new arrivals they had celebrated their arrival in town by a big drink. Aboriginal Shxtme-vt. — We are indebted to the River ina Herald for the following : — A spark of poetic sentiment is sometimes drawn from the blacks, much in the samo manner that a scintilla of fire is dieted from a worn-out flint and a much dinted steel. Wo remember hearing an aged darky, on the Lower Murray, describe the Pleiades to which he pointed, as the young lubras of the sun, who had long been betrothed to him I and whom he was ever chasing, but could never catch. Again, they say that in the evening, at the dead of night, and in tho early morning the trees talk to one another, and they converse of things that occurred ages upon ages gone by. A correspondent writing to us under a late date from the Darling, on his return from a back country trip, says, among other things which are only of private interest — " That night, after a fatiguing day's ride, I had to camp without water in a clump of inulga, in an open and very exposed piece of country. During the night the wind swept through the trees, making a horrible moaning i sound. I slept very little, being very thirsty' and also anxious about the horses. The black'fellow slept uneasily, and kept mutterng in his sleep. ' Towards morning he woke and seemed relieved as one does who has been oppressed by nightmare. "Me think "ho said devil been walk about tonight — not devil belonging to blackfellow, but white man devil. Methink Burke and Willis cry out to-night, 'What for whitefehW not send horses and grub ? You hear wind ? That come up from Cooper Creek. My word master, Mr Burke, Wills too, big one walk about on thai; creek. Never them leave Cooper Creek. Always, always, always, walk about there, and cry oiit, 'long a Monindie, " Where white man ? Why another one white man no come?'" 'You know, continues our correspondent, 'that this fellow is aware of all the proceedings of the Victorian expedition.' AYe may add, by way of explanation, that the word ' spirit' is unknown to the blacks, and in this instance, no doubt, as in many others that we know of, the word ' devil' is made use of instead." A.Suockixo Case. — The Marlborough Times says : — An accident has recently happened to a son of the Rev 11. F. Butt, of Blenheim, which unfortunately proved fatal. The particulars, so far as we have head them, arc that deceased, who was about twelve years of age, was engaged, in presence of his father, in roping a young unbroken i horse, which, galloped away, and by some means or other the rope got twisted round tho boy, and lie was dragged upwards of two miles along a shingle road. Scarlatina. — We take the following letter addressed to the Editor of the Nelson Colonist, from that journal. It will be read with much interest at the present juncture, when Wellington lias been ravaged by the dreadful scourge. Tho following is the letter referred to : — "Sir, — As the ordinary means applied in scarlet fever, which unfortunately rages in this and the neighbouring Provinces, have proved themselves rather unsatisfactory, allow me to call attention to a new remedy which has been of late highly rcommended by great medical authorities as a disinfectant and antiferment, and which is therefore suggested to be an exceedingly valuable drug in the treatment of all the so-called zymotic diseases (typhus, measels, scarlet -fever, diptheria, small-pox, &c). Two eminent Italian physicians, Professor Polli, of Milan, and Dr Dc Rieci, have, a long time ago taken great pains io detect an agent by which the poison in the blood of patients, prostrated by infectious diseases, could be eliminated, or, at least, neutralised. Polli, having observed the action of sulphurous acid in arresting fermentation, conceived the idea that this very agent may turn out to be the means lie has long looked for. Thus he gave a fair trial of sulphurous- acid and of the akdlinc and earthy sulphites, which possess the same quality of arresting fermentations, in cases where the blood is contaminated by some unknown specific poison, and found results well calculated to confirm the sanguine expectations he had entertained. Dr Do Eieei, impressed with the truth of Polli 1 s observations, administered the above mentioned drugs to many patients diseased from measels, and observed the improvement following the uso of these remedies to be decidedly great. Many other practitioners, encouraged by the beneficial eiFects of tho remedies mentioned in tho writings of tho Italian observers, have ' adopted their use largely in practice, and believe ! them to be of much avail, even in such malignant cases as did not appear to bo amenable to any other mode of treatment. (Lyall, in Fifcshiro'; lthode, in Hanover.) In my own practice I have met with only a few cases 'of simple scarlatina, i which would have been, according to Sydenham, " fatal only through the ofHciousncss of the doctor." And though lam far from intending to convey tho idea to the public that some of my excellent and unprejudiced medical brethren in the colony are unacquainted with the latest advancements in the study of tho exanthemata, yet there are many who are so engrossed in practice as to be wanting either of leisure or zenl to keep themselves on a level with the rapidly progressing science of the times ; and to those having a large field of experience I would suggest fairly to test the remedies so highly spoken of, which may tend to combat successfully the dreadful scourges of exanthemata in children. At a future time I shall proceed to speak of another means, the more confidently as I have had myself ample opportunity of witnessing its beneficial effects, when connected with a large hospital for children. With thia view I have written this brief note, and beg the kindness of your p\\blislung it, I eun, &o, Mbpjcus."

i Naval Dbeenoe op the Colonies. — Mitchell's t Maritime Register says : — The "Gill brought in by r Mr Cardwcll, Lord Clarence Pagefc, Mr Chichester i Fortcscue, and Mr Childcrs, to make provision for 3 the naval defenco of the colonies, and now before 1 the House for discussion, contains in substance i the following stipulations : — The colonies will be • authorised to provide and man vessels of war, ' and also to raise a volunteer force, which will • form part of the Royal Naval Reserve established • under the Act of 1859, and which will be avail- . able in emergency for general service in the Boyal i Navy. India does not come within the provision 1 of the Act. The action of the colony will be by - its proper legislative authority, under the approval of her Majesty in Council, and at its own expense. The colonial authorities may obtain from the Royal Navy commissioned, warrant, and other oflicers, whom they may appoint to train and command, or serve with the local force ; they may also make provision for the proper government, according to the enactment and regulations for the time being in force for the Boyal Navy, of the men and officers, ashore or afloat, embodied and .enrolled, within the limits of thoir colony. The Admiralty may issue to any of its officers volunteering for this particular service, a special commission, and the Admiralty may accept from the G-overnnient of a colony the offer at any time to place any of its vessels of war, their men, and officers, at the disposal of her Majesty ; and when such offer is accepted, such vessels, men, and officers, shall be considered to all intents and purposes, as part of the Royal Navy ; so also with the services of the whole or any part of the body I of volunteers and of the officers raised under the Act. The Admiralty may delegate their powers under this bill to a naval officer of or above the rank of captain in relation to any colony. Perilous Position in an Attsteaxian Riteh. The Gijips Land Times gives the annexed account of an incident winch lias already been briefly noticed : — "Captain Darby, of theCharlesEdwards proceeds to-morrow, on board the Thomas Norton, to examine whether there be sufficient water to admit of the resumption of traffic by the Lakes. He purposes while there, on behalf of himself, Captain Pearce, and Mr Stirling (of Lake Tycrs), to present Captain Paton with a handsome silver watch, bearing the following inscription : — ' Presented to Captain Paton, as a slight acknowledgment of his services in saving the livea of Captains Darby, Pearce and Mr Stirling, at Reeves' river, on the 25th April, 1865.' .It will perhaps bo remembered by our readers that on the 25th April, while the three gentlemen named were engaged in sounding the bar at the entrance to Reeves' river, the boat was by some means capsized, when, after being nearly three hours in the water, hanging on to the boat, they were rescued by the exertions of Captain Paton. Their position during that time must have been a fearful one. Captain Pearce tried to swim ashore, but found it impossible to do so, owing to the current. They tried all within their power to get the waterlogged boat diverted out of the current, but in vain, and were thus drifted out to sea a distance of three miles, Vwifch large numbers of sharks swimming round them, only waiting an opportunity to commence their meal, when Captain Paton, with a boat and crew from one of the steamers, came to their aid. It would appear that Captain Paton, while on board the Lady Darling, just before going below, thought he would have a look to see how the boat's crew were getting along with the sounding, when he beheld them in the position wo have described. He vtob the only man on board the Lady Darling. He at once got ashore, and ran a distance of three miles to where the steamers were moored told what had occurred, and (being an old man) we believe fainted immediately afterwards. He recovei'ed, however, in time to take command of the boat, and came to the rescue just in time to save the three gentlemen mentioned from a horrible death."