LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2634, 11 February 1868, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Superintendent. — His Honor the Superintendent returned to town on Friday night, having satisfactorily completed the business connected with the Parakino block, which wa9 the main causo of his visit to the West Coast. Reception of the Duke op Rdinburoh. — A meeting of the Public Reception Committee is convened for this afternoon, at 2 o'clock, in tho Athenceuni, when, we hear, the Committee intend to come to some resolution as to what part they will take in the preparations for tho reception of his Royal Highness. Roy At Reception Commission. — The Hon. Alfred Domett, his Honor Donald McLean, Dr Hector, F.R.S., and Lieut. H. B. Benson, R.N.R., have been appointed to serve on tho Royal Reception Commission. The Kennaed Disputes. — We hear that one of Messrs Kennard's cases against tho Provincial Government will be tried in Wellington at the March civil sittings of the Supreme Court. Wellington Savings' Bank.— The annual general meeting of the Wellington Savings'. Bank vvill be held in the Atheneeum this evening ; proceedings to oommence at half-past eight o'clock. Customs' Revenue. — The Cußtoras revenue •olleoted at this port, on Saturday and Monday last amounted to £27-1 Us 9d.

The Late Regatta. — At a meeting of the Anniversary Regatta Committee held at the Commercial Hotel last night, the. protest entered by the Star Club against the Independent Club in the tenth race was overruled, and the Independent boat was adjudged the winner, the Ariel being second. A rough balance sheet was also submitted, and out of the funds in hand it was decided that £10 10s should be given to the Benevolent Society, and that the remainder (a considerable balance) should be invested in the Mutual Investment Society till next year's Regatta. Annual Examination ov School Teachers. — The Inspector of Public Schools held the annual examination for the award of certificates to school teachers, at the Wellington AtbensDum, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last ; twelve candidates attended the examinations, eleven of whom applied for certificates of competency, and one for a certificate of merit. We understand that 1 the annual examination will also shortly be held in the Wairarapa and East Coast districts. Tea Meeting. — The anniversary tea meeting of the Total Abstinence and Band of Hope Societies will bo held al !karori to-morrow. A variety of amusements, including a cricket match, .is promised, and should the weather be fine, there is every likelihood of a pleasant gathering. Savings Bank. — The Committee meet this evening at half-past seven o'clock, preparatory to the holding of the annual general meeting at half past eight, as elsewhere advertised. The Wreck o? the General G-rant.— ln reply to a deputation from the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, the Solicitor-General stated on Friday last that the Government had arrived at the conclusion that a steamer could not carry sufficient coal to enable her to make an efficient search of the Auckland and Campbell Islands, for the purpose of ascertaining if there are any more survivors from the wreck of the General Grant. Biflb Match. — An interesting rifle match between ten Veterans and ten members of No. 1 Eifle Company was shot off yesterday afternoon, at the Adelaide Butts, and resulted in a decided victory for the Riflemen, who, though shooting not nearly up to their usual mark, beat their opponents with ease, the scores being — Rifles, 259; Veterans, 147. The conditions were — ranges : 400, 500, and 600 yards ; seven shots at each range; any position. The result was expected, as the old soldiers had relied too much on their former proweßs, and neglected the steady and regular practice which alone makes the good marksman. Badly contested as was the match, we hope the vanquished will not lose heart, and will again " draw a bead" against the Rifles. Too much credit cannot be given to No. 1 Rifle Company for the manner in which they fire, and we should not bo surprised to see some of the corps carry off a General Government prize. Death by Drowning. — The Wairarapa Mercury says : — A man of the name of James or John Kennedy met his death by drowning in the Cinui River near Castle point a short time ago. We are unable to give the exact day. It appears that the unfortunate man was drinking for some days previously at a sly grogshop at Wakataki, and shortly after returning to his work, suffered from an attack of delirium tremens. One of his mates Bat up to watch him during the night, but fell asleep. Towards morning on waking, he missed the man Kennedy, and search was made for liim without avail. Two days afterwards his body was found in the above named river, and buried at Wakataki. Owing to there being no (ioroner in the district, the remains were consigned to the ground without an inquest. We may mention, however, that the body was examined and the particulars of the death enquired into by Mr F. Maunsell, and no suspicion of foul play is entertained. This is not the first case where the the victims of accident or suicide have been buried without an ,inquest in the Castle Point district, and wo hope the Government will see the necessity of appointing a coroner there as early as possible and as there has been none in that place since Dr Smith left. Extraordinary Case of Drowning. — The Nelson Examiner says that one morning lately the body of an old man, nmed Lawrence De» vaney, was found in a ditch near the bottom of the Waimea-road, and it is surmised the pool* old fellow got drowned on his wuy home the preceding evening. Devdney was an inmate of the refuge for the destitute poor, who are maintained in a portion of what are styled the Taranaki Buildings, situate in the Waimea-road, a little beyond the College, and notwithstanding that he was very feeble, ho generally made a point of /visiting the town daily. Being a very old settler, and having a tongue tipped with blarney, the poor old fellow somehow always found friends to treat him with drink, and by the time he started homeward of an evening he was generally what may be described as " half-seas over." Such was his state on Tuesday evening, about seven o'clock, when he took his departure from the town in the midst of the heaviest rain ever witnessed here. At the bottom of the Waimea-road a small run of water passes under the bridge, which in the heavy downpour flowed over the lower part of the road to the depth perhaps of eighteen inches. This appears to have bewildered the poor old man, and perhaps in looking out for the highest ground he got into the ditch where he was found lying. An inquest was yersterday held on his body, when a verdicfc was given of " Found drowned." Death by Drowning. — The Dally Herald relates a melancholy occurrence which took place in Dalby lately, by which a little boy, five years of age, lost his life. The father of the boy, named Whitehead is a brickmaker, and lives on the plain, a little beyond Bool's residence, on the road to St. Ruth. About one hundred yards from his residence, and close alongside the brickyard, is a clay pit, some seven feet deep, which to afford shade is covered with boughs. The recent rains had filled this pit, and also covered the land round it, to a depth of about a foot, with water. On Saturday morning, about 9 o'clock, Mr Whitehead left the house to look after a kiln of bricks which were being burnt, and saw his two children, the deceased and a younger brother, paddling about in the water, but so far from the clay pit that ho did not apprehend any danger. He passed round the edge of the pit, and entered the brickyard. It is supposed that the two children followed him, but instead of going round the pit, it is thought that they took a straight line to overtake him and both fell into the deep water. Tht> mother came out of the house, and looked round to ascertain if the children were all right, and was horrified to see one of them struggling in the water, head downwards. She uttereda scream, and rushed to its assistance. She had, however, to struggle for her own life, for on reaching the bank, a portion of it gave way, and she was plunged into the pit. Mr Whitohead heard his wife Bcroam, and at once hurried towards his house to learn the cause of it. He fonnd his wife in the water nearly exhausted, holding tht youngest child in one hand, and with the other clinging to the boughs; and it was with difficulty he got them out. For some time after being taken out of the water,' the child was insensible, but as soon as it was able to speak it told its parents that its brother had fallen in also. Mr Whitehead immediately jumped into the pit again, and endeavored to recover tbc ■^lder boy. but it was not until the arrival of some of the neighbors that this was done, and then no signs of life were viaible.

Bespebatb Attempt at Sttioidb.— The Hokitika Evening Star, of the 29th tilt, gives the particulars of a desperate attempt at soicidt recently made in that town:— A man named. James Hamilton, residing on the south side of the river, came into town yesterday in company with his wife and dhild, and put up at Mr Cassidy's hotel. Last night Hamilton left his wife, and was drinking about at houses until an early hour this morning, when he returned to his hotel very intoxicated. It is Baid that a few angry words passed between the man and his wife, when Hamilton rushed out; of the bar, and running to the edge of the wharf leaped into the river. He was being rapidly carried down the stream when a man named John Taggart, a shipwright, ongaged on the wharf repairs, seeing that Hamilton was in danger of drowning, with great presence of mind and courage, jumped into the river and swam towards him. By great efforts and at the imminent risk of his life, Taggart grappled with the drowning man and succeeded in holding his head above water until a boat put off to their assistance, when both were taken on board, Taggart very much exhausted and the man, so providentially saved from a watery grave, in a very excited state. After being carried into Mr Cassidy's hotel and restoratives having been administered, Hamilton was taken to the lock-up, where he received a change of clothing, and to-morrow morning will be brought before the Resident Magistrate, charged with an attempt to commit suicide. Hamilton is a highly respectable man and well known" in Hokitika. The commission of the rash act is to be attributed alone to drink. Taeanaki Pbactiobs.— The Wanganui Mening Herald thus comments on a rather carious mode which the Provincial Government of Taranaki have adopted for getting rid of their bad characters : — " It appears the Government of Taranaki have adopted a very convenient method of getting rid of disreputable characters, by paying their passages down to Wanganui. It is very kind of them, no doubt, to send us population, which io the very thing we want, but not certainly the dregs of Taranaki. It will be seen in another column, that two women have been brought up at the police court for keeping a house of ill-fame. Their passages were paid by the Government of Taranaki to Wanganui, and Major Durie has expressed bis intention of sending them baok, which we consider is the proper thing to do. What is unsuitable, in the population, for Taranaki, is also unsuitable for Wanganui, and although we have more life and public spirit than the people of our neighboring province, we can assure them, we are not less particular about our morals. We shall send the emigrants back, with the polite re* quest that the "powers that be" in Taranaki, will be a little less eelfish in future, and to do to their neighbors as they would like to be done by. We have got some bad characters in Wanganui, but have more regard for publio decency than to pay their passages to New Plymouth." Colonial Ciboumlooution. — The Colonist, in its last monthly summary remarks : — In matters political there is little this month to note. It would appear that Mr Stafford's government considers it necessary to make enormously cumbrous rules, on the principle one would think that "all men are thieves." Returns of a most numerous and voluminous nature are made up daily, weekly, and monthly in all the publio offices in the colony, and it has occurred that urgent documents, as for instance to keep a debtor from running away, have been refused to legal practitoners some hours before the time of the offices closing, because the accounts of the receipts bad been made up for that day and the money banked, and they could not do any more business involving money transactions. This or a similar reason — and it was stated to us as we give it — was given for the refusal of an application for an urgent warrant. Then a series of the harshest and most despotic I rules aremadefortheworkmg of all thegovernment | offices, the employes of which cannot stir a foot or call their souls their own. They are set to vratch each other like Irish spies ; and are treated as regards their services and their dealings with money as if there were no such thing as honor or honesty among them. If moneys are to be dealt with in this strict manner to the delay of important business connected with public convenience and justice, and the multiplication of work and consequently of officers, where is the use of securities in officers, of trust or is there no trust P Again, it would appear as if some captain of some Volunteer Company in some of the provinces had failed properly to disburse the money allotted to his squad ; at least so we suppose from the sequel, for the volunteers here were lately informed that henceforth the moneyß due. to the companies for uniforms, &c, wonld be paid to the tailors direct, instead of passing through their hands as hitherto while the curious faot is, that the Government are much in arrear with some of the volunteers' allowances, and already a considerable portion of the clothing expenses have . been paid by the volunteers themselves out of their own pockets, and in anticipation of these allowances. Legitimate watchfulness is a rery necessary thing ; but surely, where properly vouched accounts can be demanded, and future payments can be made contingent on their production, it does ,'seom extreme to treat officers and men of social standing in suoh a manner. If saving were the object, why not strike off a good deal of expenditure in the shape of salary to officers whose position is and ought to be purely honorary?" A Bbave Youth. — A case of bravery on the part of a boy, and cowardice on the part of several men almost identical in its circumstances with a recent matter which occurred at Sandhurst, is thus reported by the Bailor at Courier:— "Oa I Tuesday morning, a little boy named Robertson, aged nine years, whilst trying to get a stick out of a water hole on the White fiat, fell in. Another boy, named George Reynolds, aged thirteen years, who was in Dana street, hearing the cries of the mother, ran to the hole, where some six or eight men were already standing. One of them asked the 1 ittle fellow if he could swim. Reynolds threw off his jacket and jumped in immediately, and soon felt the body at the bottom of the hole in about four feet of water. It was too heavy for him to lift, so he called to the men for assistance, and when he assured them it was not deep, one of them came in and helped him out with the body of the unfortunate child. There were signs of life in the body when first brought out, but all efforts at resuscitation were unavailing, and the poor boy expired. Reynolds deserves all praise for the plucky manner in which he acted, and his conduct put the lookers-on, who called themselves men to shame." Opinions of the Fbbnch Pbess on thb Manohesteb Executions. — The Journal des Debuts writes : — " Let us hope that the friends of the men who suffered will renounce their evil designs, and that the triple execution which has just taken place will be the last act of this bloody tragedy." — The Dehats adds, " that the Government might have yielded to solicitation, and spared the lives of these men, but that it was difficult to do so in the face of threats of insurrection, arson, and assassination." — The Paris correspondent of the Independance Beige writes : — " The news of the execution of the three Fenians at Manchester has produced the moat painful effect here. England, which has the lead of nations in liberty, should take the load of civilisation by abolishing the penalty of doath." The writer of the daily bulletin in the same journal, adds :— -" The execution, of which the Government of the Queen has assumed the heavy responsibility, is to be much deplored." The Avenir National says: — "We need not say how much we. deplore suoh executions ; how much they shook democratic sentiment, even when surrounded, aB in England, by every legal security." The Temps sayß :r— " This mournful drama, the denouement of which was superintended by a considerable force, was effected in the midst of a sullen tranquility. Here, then, are three new martyrs added to the necrology of the Fenians."— -The SiSole says:— "The wishes expressed by a large number of English citizens, *nd the organs of the press of all nations, have not been heard, Order reigns in Manchester. But this execution may have lamentable results us regards the internal tranquility of England." —The Liberte says :-—" The execution may cost dearly to an aristocratic Government."