LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2587, 22 October 1867, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The Panama Mail.— The Rakaia, due last night with the Panama mail, had not arrived up to tho hour of our going to pres9. Telegraph. — Telegraphic communication with the South was interrupted during the whole of yesterday. Bankruptcy. — The next sittings of the Supreme Court in its Insolvency Jurisdiction -will I tuke place on Friday next, the 25th inßtant at 10 o'clock. Lecture.-^ Wo would remind tho patrons o{ Penny Readings that the Rev. Mr Hall will deliver a lecture on " Napoleon tho future Monarch of the World," in tho Temperance Hall on Thursday evening.

Assessment.— We would remind our friends and subscribers that the assessment for tho different wards boing now completed, tho same are now open for inspection at the Town Board Offices, Lambton quay. The rate is payable afte the let proximo.

Yolunteeb Riplb Cobps.— A meeting of persons irterested in the formation of a Volunteer Rifle Corps was held at Plimmer's (Barrett's) Hotel, yesterday evening. The Hon. J. C. Crawford, R.M., was unanimously voted to tho chair, and opened the business with some appropriate remarks. The following resolutions wero passed : —(1) That it is advisable to form a Rifle Volunteer Corps in the City of Wellington ; (2) That all persons willing to join the corps sign a memorial to the Government, asking that their services be accepted j (3) That the corps be called No. 1 Company Wellington Rifle Volunteers ; (4) That a Provisional Committee, consisting of the following gentlemen, be formed, to obtain the names of persons willing to join the proposed corps : — Messrs Gillon, Eliott, Logan, Widdop, and F. Stevens; with power to add to their number. Mr F. Stevens to be honorary secretary pro tern. -, (5) That the meeting be now adjourned until Thursday evening next, the 24th instant j no tice of the time and place of meeting to be given in tho newspapers. An advertisement elsewhero notifies that the meeting will be held at Barrett's Hotel, at 8 o'clock on Thursday evening. The meeting was rather thinly attended, in consequence of the inclement state of the weather; certainly not to any lack of interest in the proposed corps ; as about forty young men have already signified their willingness to join it.

Accident.— On Sunday morning as a stockrider in tho employ of Mr Thomas Harris, was riding out to the Hutt on one of Mr Harris' horses, ho was thrown from the saddle and cast insensible to the ground. Some gentlemen returning in a trap from the Hutt found the riderless horsej and shortly afterwords the insensible body of the man, which was at once taken into the trap and conveyed to the hospital, where roBtoratives were applied, and tho patient attended to. In a short time consciousness returned and the.man is now able to go on with his usuul work.

Wool. — The first of tho season's wool was shipped for England on Saturday, in the Asterope, which vessel received the first bale on board with tho customary formalities. The Asteropo is the first wool ship of the season.

Social Gathering.— On Saturday evening the third Annual Wayze-gooso Supper was held in tho Empire, and largely attended by the employe's in the Government Printing Office. The chair was taken by Mr Payne, who, on the removal of the cloth, gave the üßual loyal and patriotic toasts which were, as ever in this loyal country, warmly received. He then proposed " Mr Didsbury," "Sweethearts and Wives," " The Chief Eeporter nnd his staff," " Tho Press," and other toasts which were also warmly responded to, and tho happy party broke up merry and wise at an early hour after spending a highly agreeable evening. Bifle SnoOTING. — The majority of tho mem bers of the Hutt Bifle Volunteer Corp3 competed for the silver cup, presented by Lieutenant Fitzherbert, on Saturday last, at the Riflo Butts, Hutt Racecourse. Tho two highest scores wore made by Mr William Dick and Mr George Collis, both of Wainui-o-raata, who each mude 28 points. The tie was won by Mr Collis. The ranges firod from were 200, 300, and 400 yards, three shots at each range. The weather was very unfavorable for firing, it blowing a strong gale from tho N.W. during the day.

Tendbes fok Inland Mails. — We are requested to state it is not correct that tho tendons for the conveyance. of the overland mails for this province have been accepted j such will not bo the tho case until an official notification to that effect

is given. Cohrt of Appeal. — The Court of Appeal has been occupied during the lust two sitting dayß in hearing the arguments in the case of Chapman and Tooth, which are not yet finished. Tho case is exceedingly uninteresting to the general public, although a considerable amount of money is at stake, tho arguments consisting mainly of dry technicalities, scarcely intelligible to the uninitiated. The arguments for tho respondent wero begun by Mr Garrick yesterday, and will be resumed at 11 o'clock this morning by Mr Macassoy. The next case on tho list is King and Buckley. Customs' Revenue. — The Customs' revenue received on Saturday and Monday amounted to £270 10s lid. Land Sale. — Messrs Bothune and Hunter sold by public auction yesterday part of town acre No 154;, Te Aro, having a frontage of 34 feet to Cuba street, and 66 feet to Ghuznee street, with the premises erected thoroon, for £625 Wairarapa Tramway. — In a letter to the editor of the Wairarapa Mercury, Mr Charles O'Neill, C.E., and Mr Ben Smith, C.E., state that a tramway could be constructed from Wellington to Masterton at a cost of £107,000. These gentlemen intimate that tho profits on tho outlay would be thirty per cent.

Tea Meeting. — The annual tea meeting of tho South Makara school took place in tho school house on Tuesday evening last. There was a very large gathering from tho surrounding districts, as also from Wellington and Kavori. Tho room waß tastefully decorated with evergreens. The tea was well got up, and after ample justice having been done to it to the satisfaction of all present, tho tables were cleared, and Mr Reading was called to tho chair, when addresses were delivered by Messrs Bead and Fawoett. Mr Monaghan, Chairman of tho School Committee, proposed a vote of thanks to the friends present for their liberal support, and tho meeting terminated. Dancing commenced in the room and in a booth erected for tho occasion at the end of the school house, which was kept up until past 12 o'clock, when tho party broke up, after a very pleasant evening's enjoyment. After all expenses are paid there will be a balance of about six pounds, which will be appropriated to the purchase of books, maps, &c, for the use of the school ; it is also in contemplation to enlarge the school room, which is too small for the growing wants of tho distriot. — Communicated.— [We are always happy to receive paragraphs like the foregoing, but our Makara friends might contrivo to write them before they are a week old. — E.W.I.]

Cbicket. — We notice that in other portions of the colony tho cricketing season has commenced, and feel surprised that as yot no steps have been taken in this city to get some of tho numerous clubs into training. There, is, too, a sort of implied promise made to the cricketers of Marlborough and Nelson that tho Wellington club would pay them a visit in order to piny return matches.

The Pbofosed Wairarapa Tramway.— -In reference to our comment on the article in the Wairarapa Mercury, wo give the following extract from evidence submitted to tilo ' Eailway Gauge Committee :— lt appears to show that wo have amongst us a gentleman as competent to advise on any matter in connection with railway development as any in the Australian colonies, and we submit to the consideration of those whose interests that journal advocates, that if these are in earnest they can obtain experienced advice on tho practicability o£ such an undertaking as that suggested. In answer to the question " Havo you had any experience in the construction of railways ?" The answer was—" As in the colonies, it is not unusual for assurance to take precedence of ordinary professional reserve; it appears desirable that I should state in answer to this question, both what my experience ib, and how it has been obtained ; for the question under consideration may involve important results, and the value of any evidence depends on the experience of the witness and the character of that experience : — From 1838 to 1846, 1 was engaged as Assistant Engineer to Mr Brunei on the Great Western Railway, the Bristol and Exeter Bailway, and the South Devon Railway — in the construction o£ several tunnels and other works ; from 1846 to 1849, 1 was engaged as Resident Engineer for the most important works on the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway; from 1849 to 1855, 1 became contractor for several important railway and hydraulic works ; from 1855 to 1860 I was engaged as Superintending Engineer for the construction of the Don Pedro (2) Railway, and afterwards as Engineer-in-Chief for the Tijuca Railway and other works in Brazil ; from 1860 to 1866, I conducted extensive surveys in Victoria, and subsequently became Railway Engineer in Southland, where I continued until tho expiry of my engagement on my notice to that effect on the approximate completion of the railway. I hold letters from Mr Brunei himself proving his appreciation of my professional capacity and personal integrity for the important appointment of Engineer-in-Chief to the East London Waterworks Company j also documents and letters from other gentlemon to tho time of my arrival in tho Australian colonies." We give this extract without comment, and to shew our friends that, if they are in earnest, means are at hand for developing the enterprise spoken of or of being advised as to its practicability.

Chabitable Sebmon.— The Bishop of Wellington will, on Sunday morning next, preach a sermon at St Peter's Church in aid of the Clergymen's Widows and Orphans Pension Fund.

Sehmon. — We understand it was announced on Sunday evening last, that Mr Garrick would preach in the Wesleyan Churoh, Manners street, oil Wednesday evening (to-morrew), at half-past seven o'clock.

"New Zealand Times." — Tho proprietor of the New Zealand Times ha 9 discovered, after the issue of thirty numbers, that a morning daily paper will not pay in Wellington, and has therefore abandoned the attempt to establish one. A leading articlo in yesterday's issue announces that the Times will in future appear as a tri- weekly journal. It is almost needless to say that this result has completely realised ©ur anticipations, founded on a pretty extensive experience of colonial journalism. Had we thought that the returns of a daily paper would sufficiently exceed tho expenditure, the readers of tho Independent would have had it on their breakfast tables every morning long ago. When the Times started, wo did not care to accept the implied challenge, and the result has proved wo wore right. The time has not yet come, though it may bo not very far distant, when a morning daily journal in Wellington will pay expenses, and our contemporary has learned that lesson at a rather costly price. That the speculation was a serious blunder is frankly admitted. "To retrace our otepa," it remarks, "is never consonant with those natural feelings of complacency and prido with which we regard a plan that has cost us great labor, and wherein oui 1 greatest interest lies, but when proof ia afforded that such a design, possibly through want of sufficient consideration or in hasty judgment, cannot be carried to a successful issue, it will only provo tho possession of still less judgment and qualities which would preclude success in any mercantile undertaking, if we refuse to recognise our error, and alter our course in time." It remains to bo soon how the new arrangement will work. In reality, however, it is not a new arrangement, because the old plan of tho Advertiser is again adopted. The Times is to be throeponco instead of twopence per copy, but as no alteration is announced in tho rate of subscription, we suppose it will be forty shillings, instead of thirty, tho latter having been tho Advertiser' s charge. Altogether, we think our contemporary might under existing circumstances adopt'the following motto, " The Times are out of joint."

Wellington Volunteer Fire Brigade. — Tho meeting o( momberd of the^VVellington Volunteer Fire Brigade, which was to have been held yesterday evoning, had to be postponed through tho inclemency of the weather. No 2 Company will meet for practice at the London and Liverpool engine-house to-morrow evening.

Bruce and Cornish v. the Queen. — The celebrated case of Bruco and others v the Queen is now finally settled. The prothonotary has adjusted the costs incidental to the appeal to the Privy Council, and (lie costs of tho agreement for arbitration under the report. Tho Melbourno Argus says : — " Tho Crown solicitor's costs — £1695 8s 2d — were brought in and taxed down to £374 Is 6d. It must be noticed that a sum of £726 12s, in one item, for a copy of tho shorthand writer's notes of evidence, containing 14,533 folios, was charged. This tho prothonotary disallowed, on tho ground that the only evidence upon which the appeal could be argued was contained in the appeal case itself (which consisted of the notes of the judges), and that as the Lords of the Judicial Committee of tho Privy Council would not accept the shorthand writer's notes as evjdenco in tho appeal, they -were thereforo valueless. Tho petitioners' costs amounted to £1546 13s 2d, and were taxed down to £1473 5s 4d.

Pakawatj Coalpield. — Tho Pakawau Coal Mining Committee, are advertising for tenders for 1000 tons of coal, from a newly discovered seam at Pakawau, and for shipping the same on board vessels and bringing it to Nelson.

An Absconder. — Stoore who recently absconded from Auckland is said to bo lying perdu in Wanganui. Finding how grievously they had been " sold," tho merchants of Auckland, and the more important of Steers' creditors, raised a fund at once, amounting to £50, for the purposo of bringing the übscondor back. To put this in effect a detective was despatched to Wangnnui — one of tho Auckland water-police— and that functionary is now thero on the laok out. He has not however as yet been able to catch his man,

The Financial Difficulties of Hawke's Bat. — Upon the return of Mr McLean to Napier, he informed the Provincial Council that the diffit culty in connection -with the passing of tho Loan Bill had led to his being detained in Wellington longer than he expected. Upon tlioso bills being passed, ho arranged with the directors of the Bunk of New Zealand for an advance to the province on account of the loan — the ncgociation having been closed just before the St. Kilda left Wellington.

*"Inqubst at Waipukaeatt. — On Saturday tho 28th ult. an inquest was held by C. R. English, Esq., coroner, on the body of alad named Samuel Franklin, son of Mr Franklin, of Wainui. "It appeared, says tho Herald, " from the evidence brought forward that, on or about tho 3lßt July, the unfortunate lad had gone to tho Porangahau river in search of some cattle, and had nover returned. The horse, with the saddle on but the bridle broken, was found a dny or two after, on the opposite side of the bank to where the boy must have entered, and hence the presumption that the poor lad, in the act of crossing, had been washed from the horse's back and drowned. Although all means were employed to recover the body, it was not found until the afternoon of Friday the 27th ult , when it was discovered by <i shepherd of Messrs Hunter, who, in returning to his whare, saw the body partially floating in the water, entangled by a log. The jury returned an open verdict of ' Found Drowned.' "

The Amenities of Debate. — There has been greut squabbling amongst our Hawke's Bay friends because the Government want to fix a toll gate outside the town of Napier and charge 2a 6d lor bullock dmys ; Is 6d for horse drays ; Is for ono horse vehicles ; 6d for horses ; 3d for foot passengers; l£d for cattle; and.Jd for sheep. Public meetings havo been held and Mr Wood of tho Hawke's Bay Herald made a very sensible speech against the Toll Bill. Mr Carlyon however expressed different opinions and satirised the promoters of the meeting. " His opinion was that wherever there were metal roads, a toll should be put up. * # * Some gentlemen were very fond of pleasure. He had made some enquiries during the last few dnys, and he had discovered that all the opponents of this measure were married men, who were fond of driving their friends out, and " shouting nobblers" freely on the road. It was a fino excuse for them when their wives said " My dear, will you take me for a drive," to make some excuse about the toll. It was entirely a domestic question." Then there was a series of rows in the Provincial Council. Mr Ormond and Mr Buchanan first fell out about the toll and then had a verbal shindy on their own account. Mr Ormond thought Mr Buchanan was pigheaded, at which tho latter waxed indignant and let his assailant have it in the following style : — " Sir, the member for Porangahau has applied to me tho elegant term, ' pig-headed j' but when you are dealing with pigs, Sir, you must meet them with their own weapons, which alone they can understand and appreciate. Speaking of pigs, Sir, it takes a sharp spear to prick some of their sides. (Laughter.) It would need Ithuriel's spear — they must bo triply urmed in brass. Tho member for Porangahau has alluded to my habit of reserving my violent attacks until the last. All know that hon. gentleman's hardihood of assertion, and the unfortunate memory with whioh he is troubled ; but if he were to tell us that he gives us the whole of his thoughts, I should take leave to doubt him. His characteristics aro known to be shuffling, his own friends say it. He thought it was not beneath him to refer to the modicum — the honorarium which has been paid me, in common with others in this Council ; but, Sir, I am not receiving public money in the way ho is doing j for ho takes four months out of the year at the munificent rate of £1 per diem. I would not charge any gentlemen around with suoh mean, mercenary, contemptible motives; but they are entirely fitted to his mind. Ho, the groat purist, nover made a road to his own door ; never like the Irish magistrate,

" Out of his bounty Built a bridge at the cost of the county." — The bridge at Eparaima. (Laughter.) But not content with getting bridges and roads at the particular spot thut calls him lord, he goes into the 70-mile Bush, takes up a station illegally, and spends the public money to the tune of £3000 — I beg pardon, — I should have said £2785 — on a road only to bo used by himself and a few others." This of courso called forth a denial, and when we stopped reading the debate hon. members were " left squabbling."

Thompson's Son. — The Ngharuawhia correspondent of tho Southern Cross says that a fow weeks ago Thompson's eon passed through there on his way to Auckland, in all respects decently attired. Last week he was there again, without shoes, &c, — anything but the respectable youth recently seen.

Mr Archibald Cameron. — It gives us very great pleasure to learn that Mr Archibald Cameron of Turakina has somewhat recovered from tho very serious injuries he lately received through a severe fall from his horae. We trust in a short period he "will onco more be ablo to move about.

The late Mr J. P. Watt.— ln alluding to the death oi this gentleman, the Wanganui Times remarks : — Death has removed another old and respected settler from nmongst us. On the night of Monday last, Mr John Paton Watt, sen , of Lily Bank, breathed his last. Mr J. P. Watt was brother to W. H. Watt, Esq., M.H.R., and son to George P. Watt, Esq., Into of Fife, Scotland. The deceased gentleman arrived in this colony 21 years ago, and was for some years master of the schooner Governor Grey, then trading between Wanganui and Wellington. He subsequently purchased tho fine estate of Lily Bank, which by means of his capital and industry has become a most valuable property. Hia bereaved widow and children are left in comfortable circumstances, but their loss in the present dispensation of Providence is irreparable.

An Unfortunate Vessel. — It will be remembered that some time since a number of the unemployed in Auckland chartered a vessel called the Flying Cloud, to take them to California; but tho vessel was seized for debt just before sailing. This, however, was not all her troubles, which the Weekly Express thus lucidly sums up : — " The story of the Flying Cloud is an unfortunate one. Her builder is unpaid for the work he performed, and so are some of tho mechanics employed. The passengers, numbering more than 100 who took their passages by her to California wore left behind, and never got back the price of their tickets. Her agent departed very unostentatiously, her owner died, and died insolvent, and the bank where the bueinesß was transacted collapsed altogether, the manager twice ' bolting,' being brought back on tho first occasion, but escaping the second. A warrant was issued for his apprehension and £50 reward offered. This was published in the Police Gazette and other, papers, but although he has been seen in Sydney the efforts to bring hini back have not boen very great, and it is now very unlikely that he will bo brought back at all."

Loss ov Sheep. — There have been some heavy losses of sheop in Victoria. "It appears," writes tho Smythesdale correspondent of the Star, " that the loss of shorn sheep in the Western district thrdugh tho late storm will bo immense, tho particulars already to hand being truly deplorable. Mr M'Ponagh, sheep and cattle dealer, Lin ton, writes to inform mo that on Thursday, night his man returned with some sheop he had been sent for, and that he states for certainty that Mr Wilson, noav Mount Elephant, commenced shearing on Tuesday, 24th September, with a shed of fifteen shearers, who turned out 800 shorn ewes, all of which died on the following day, from exposure to the wind and rain. The poor things wore lying huddled togother in small groups all over the paddock, and were a sad sight for even a man with broad acres to look upon. On Thursday, Mr Wilson had five men engaged in burying the sheep. Three hundred other shorn sheep, belonging to Mr Robinson, were also destroyed by the atorm on Tuesday. In the northerly portion of the district, however, there does not appear to have been any loss, but this may be owing fco the shearing not having been commenced,"