LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2668, 16 April 1868, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

«*_ The Govebnob. — We hear that His Excellency Sir George Bowen, will not return to Wellington before the end of May or the beginning of Juno. Mr Stafford.— Tho Hon. tho Premier was a passenger on Tuesday by the steamer Wellington. The Superintendent. — His Honor Dr Featherston has gone to Ohilci to attend the sittings of the Native Lands Court, which, it is expected, will be brought to a conclusion either this or next week. The District Judge. — His Honor Mr Dudley Ward, District Judge, returned from Napier by the Wellington on Tuesday. Mn Brandon. — This gentleman is at present in Wanganui representing Messrs Jacob Joseph and Co. and some Melbourne creditors of Messrs R. Ailken and Co. The Nathan Family. — These talented artistes are now in Nelson, but may be expected to arrive here in (he course of Saturday, as the Phcebe "will return direct from Nelson. District Court. — The usual monthly sittings of the District Court will be held on Saturday next in the Supreme Courthouse when the following cases will bo heard : — E. Owen v Hales — bill of exchange ; Raynor v W. Hickson— work and labor ; Squires v Sim— special damago ; D. Anderson v Aitkin — goods sold and delivered ; Bronstcad v E Puni— work and labor ; Spackman v Homer— money received ; Mantell v Hickling — work and labor. In Bankruptcy. — The District Court will sit under its insolvency jurisdiction on Monday, when the following cases will be heard : — In re W. H. Foley and Li re W. Churchill. R.M.s Court. — There was only one caso for hearing in the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, in which the inebriate was fined in tho usual amount. The Debating Society. — Owing to tho inclemency of tho weather tho attendance at the Debating Society last night was small. We would remind members that the report of tho committee for tho past half-year will bo presented on Wednesday next. New Store. — Within the last few days a new tailoring establishment has been opened in this city. Tho proprietors are tho Messrs Sloan recently from Victoria, who have caused to be erected a commodious and handsome building adjoining Prosser's stables, and almost opposite the Supreme Court. Tho Messrs Sloan come to Wellington well accredited, and hare a largo stock of clotheß and goods on hand.

The Baoes.— The booths for the Wellington Races, to como off on the 22nd and 23rd insts, were disposed of by auction on Tuesduy at Mclntosh'B Commercial Hotel. The purchasers were as follows : — Booth, No. 1, 0. Hickling, £10 ; No. 2, Mrs Kennedy, £10; No. 3, Urwin, £10 j No, 4, Donnecker, £10 10s ; No. 5, D. Hastings (Hutt), £10. Messsrs Linley, Palmer, Freeman, Eldershaw, and Biddlo purchased tho refresh- i ment stalls. Tho gate was bought by Mr Palmor for £40, and the right to sell " kerrect cards" of the difi'erent events brought £10. Death of Db Maetindale. — On Friday afternoon the body of Dr Martindale. of Tutaenui, was discovered in a paddock, adjoining his residence. An inquest was held at tho Tutaenui Hotel on Saturday, before Dp Fletcher and a respectable jury. Witnesses wore called who proved that the deceased was heard to leave the house about two o'clock on Friday morning, and after a search finding the body in tho field. The enquiry was adjourned for two hours for the purpose of a post mortem examination. On re-assembling, Dr Curl deposed that the cause of death was from taking a large quantity of prussic acid and laudanum, and that he also found the brain in a diseased state. The jury returned a verdict " that Q-eorge Ernest Martindale came to his death by taking too largo a dose of prussic acid and laudanum while in an unsound state of mind." Dr Martindale was surgeon of the Astorope on her last voyage to the colony, and settled at Tutaenui, whero he had a good practice, and was much liked by tho settlers thero. Lately it was remarked that ho was strange and occasionally absent, but it was only looked upon as one of tho eccentricities of genius. Dr Martindale's remains wore interred in tho cemotery on Mount View on Sunday. A False Alahm. — About eight o'clock on Tuesday evening tke fire bell at Thorndon commenced ringing furiously, the To Aro bells took up the signal, and to finish off, the bugles of the Royal Irish sounded the call for fire. No one was in bed ; orery one rushed out to see the cause of the alarm, and after questioning this, that, and the other person, learnt that there was a large firo behind Capt. Rhodes' house at Wades' Town. Truo enough, a magnificent blaze was seen in the direction of Thorndon, whither proceeded with commendable speed tho firo brigades, the police, the soldiers, and the townspeople. On reaching the spot, however, it was found that an opportunity did not ofter for a display of daring and agility, as the only thing in flames was a bonfire built up some time ago by Capt. Rhodes for uso on tho arrival of the Duke, which, now that H.R.H. was not coming, had been set " ablaze" by some porson or persons unknown. Spumous Cheques. — Mr Justice Johnston h;as repeatedly stated that the prevalence of tho crime of obtaining money by means of false cheques is as attributable to the negligence, carelessness, or gullibility of the public as to anything else. We perfectly agree with his Honor. Cases, however do arise, in which individual members of the general public aro just a trifle too sharp, and by their caution or 'cuteness aro tho means of frustrating tho ends of justice. A case in point occurred on Easter Monday. An individual of shady appearance named John Edwards, betook him to the Nelson Alo House, where, deluded by the open countenance and innocent appearance of " Sam," ho coolly proposed to pay for a threeponny drink with a £30 cheque. Deluded creature, ho did not know that of all persons in Wellington tho least likely to be sold was the said " Sam," who, having " knocked about a few," is not exactly tho chicken his appearance would lead one to suppose. " Sam" did not cash the precious document, but hied him to the police station, from whence he presently emerged with a stalwart constable, who forthwith dashed across the road and led Mr John Edwards away to the lock-up. On Tuesday moi'ning, a charge of obtaining money under false pretences was preferred against the interesting individual, but the ease fell through " Sammy" having defoated tho ends of justice by not being sharp enough to give some pecuniary equivalent for the cheque. Had the intelligent but too knowing " Samivel" not been so prompb in his demands on tho police for assistance, but had only passed a coin or so across the counter, John Edwards, instead of being a gentleman at largo, would inevitably liavo had tho honor of an introduction to Mr Justice Johnston at tho next criminal sittings. Reform Association. — A number of natives and Europeans assembled at Orakei on the 10th to attend a meeting of the Maori and European Reform Association, but no business was done, as there was no interpreter present, To Wirihana, who had been depended upon, declining to undertake tho responsibility. Tho Association adjourned sine die. Tjke Eabli of Pembroke. — His Lordship tho Earl of Pembroke and suite arrived in Auckland on the 10th inst. A Suspicious Case. — Ono James Francis Crowley has been brought before the Resident Magistrate at Hokitika afc tho instance of Mr Shaw. It seems that Mr Crowloy expressed an opinion that the West Coast Times' office would bo blown tip, and Mr Shaw, the proprietor thereof, thinking that perhaps the wish was father to the thought, had Crowley brought before the Magistrate. Tho latter, however, dismissed tho case. Lakkin & Co.— lt is stated in tho Nelson papers that Larkin, Clarke, and the other five prisoners recently committed, will bo tried at Hokitika on tho 12th May. Tuf. "New Zealand Heuald" on Suicide. — The above journal in announcing the suicide of Henry Woodward, an Auckland man, in this city, says : — " More suicides occur in Wellington than all tho other provinces of Now Zealand.'' Possibly the author of the statement docs not read tho northern newspapers, or he would sco that in Auckland the crime is as prevalent as any where else. It is rather too bad for an Auckland paper to throw its little stono afc another province because, forsooth, in it an Auckland man chooses to put an oml to his life by taking an over-doso of laudanum. Caution to Parents. — The number of accidents which befal children who aro not properly watched should be a warning to parents. Only recently an accident of a somewhat serious nature occurred at Otahuhu, to a girl, aged about four years, when playing outside her father's fence. It seems the little creature was passing by a horse when tho animal lashed out and struck her right straight between the eyes. The child was blind for three days and her nose was crushed.

, ■■"_ ■■ ' I ~ • " The Plucked Tuekey.— Tho Wanganui Editors are at it again. This is the sorb of stylo in which the Times compliments the Clvronicle. "Tho cool effrontery with which Mr William Hutchison disseminates lies in the columns of fcho Chronicle, and the sneaking hypocrisy with which, ho tries to gloss over a vindictive falsehood, should sink the man beneath contempt." Now, what on earth has unfortunate Mr Hutchison been doing, to catch it like this ? WelJ» not much, the whole squabble, indeed, being about an editorial turkey — not a goose. The editor of tho Times keeps turkeys, and the aforesaid turkeys stray into Cuptain Low's garden, that gentleman being the occupant of the next house. Captain Low doesn't like turkeys in his garden, so he kills one, leaving, as he says, " not a single feather in its tail." The Editor sues him for this, and gets judgment for 10s — the value of the turkey— and costs. Under ordinary circumstances, there the case would have ended j but the Turkey question had still to furnish much matter for controversy. The Chronicle reports the case; the Times falls foul of the Chronicle for not doing so accurately ; and finally, Captain Low takes to letter-writing, and pitches into the Times. We are completely bewildered after reading all that has been written on this exciting topic. First of all, Captain Low says he kicked the turkey, but "without intent to murder]" while the Times' man swears point-blank that he saw the Captain wring its neck. Then tho Editor says that he saw the Captain beat another turkey, which afterwards died, leaving seven bereaved young turkeys to the mercies of cruel captains with big boots, Nay, melancholy to relate, on© of the said young turkeys, died of sorrow for tho loss of its mamma. Of course the Captain denies all this, and retorts by hinting that the editor got possession of the turkey with the intention of eating it, but afterwards put it back in the garden and went to law against its slayer. "Mr Taylor," writes Captain Low, " did get possession of the turkey after it was killed, and if not for cooking, it at least looked like something near akin to it. It might have been to eat it raw for anything I know to the contrary ; but when it was thrown back into my garden by Mr Taylor himself, it had a suspicious look, for its head was cut off and its feet tied, as if it had been hung up for bleeding ; and as to there not being n, single feather off it, as he alleges, I must say that either his memory or his sight is failing him dreadfully." Whatever may be the merits of this matter, at all events there has been a great row, and the Turkey question has for a considerable time been the leading topic of the day in Wanganui. The Late Case of Aesok.— Private Charles McCarthy, Royal Irish, remanded on suspicion of being implicated in the late case of fire-raising in the Tinakori Road, will be brought before the Eesident Magistrate again this morning, when, we are informed, he will have several witnesses to call to prove an alibi. It seems that the prisoner boars an excellent character in his regiment, so it is possiblo there may have been a mistake made as to the identification. Lambton Quay.— The work of widening the main thoroughfare of the city which was coinmencod when a visit from the Duke of Edinburgh was expected, is being rapidly proceeded with. At present the metal not having worked into the foundation, tho road is somewhat rough, but this defect will be remedied by time, and the new portion of the street will be as smooth as the old. Geeat Native Meeting.— We learn from the Auckland papers that a great native meeting is to be held at tho Bay of Islands on the lfth inst. A New Way or Paying Old Debts.— Mr Bartine showed the people of this city one way of paying debts, but his feat did not afford so striking an illustration of the novel methods in vogue for liquidating long standing accounts as one recently performed in Auckland. It seems from tho local journals that a mild creditor waited upon his debtor with his little bill, when to his astonishment the latter " stormed at him awful," told him to go to a warm climate, and assisted him there by kicking him into the street. The creditor skeddadled, and the debtor recommends the course ho adopted as the most effectual and cheapest mode of getting rid of a " dun." Bread.— Tho Melbourne master bakers have raised the price of bread to lOd the 4-lb loaf. Kabom Road Boaed.— A meeting of the ratepayers of the Karori district was held at eight o'clock, on Monday, at the schoolroom, for the purpose of re-electing tho Road Board, and for other business. Tho Hon. John Johnston was in the chair. The proceedings commenced by rc-electiug Wardens of tho Board, tho former election having been illegal, and contrary to the provisions of tho " District Highways Act, 1867." Tho following members woro then proposed and elected, viz. :— Messrs Johnston, Eaglo, Fawcetfc, Kells, P. Monngban, and C. Monnghan. After the election of the Board, it was proposed and agreed, that a rate of Gd per acre should bo yearly assessed on all lands. It was then decided that a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Johnston, Toomath, Reading, and Lancaster, should wait upon his Honor tho Superintendent, to bring under his notice tho desirability of having the Karori district properly surveyed. Mr Toomath tho moved that tho attention of tho Board bo directed to the importance of including all lands benefiting by the road, and not ut present within the boundaries of tho district, to be included in such boundaries. This was agroed to. Mr Lancaster then proposed that the Karori Road Board should bo requested to communicate with tho North and South Makara Road Boards, in order that some arrangement should bo made to assist in keeping in repair that piece of land known as tho Makara Hill. This motion was also carried. Tho Board remained a short time to appoint Mr Johnston, Chairman, and Mr Fawcctt, the Treasurer of the Board. The next ovening of meeting was fixed for Friday, at the same hour and place. After a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the meeting separated at eleven o'clock. Boiling Down.— Tho Hawko's Bay Boiling Down Company has commencod operations. Four hundred wethers produced fourteen casks of tallow. Only one of theso has yet been weighed, tho others being scarcely firm enough to be handled. Its net weight wbb 4cwt lqr 161bs, and the others are, as nearly as possible, the same size, so that the total result may be set down at folly three tons. This, at 4d per lb, gives £112, or fully 5b 6d per head. The skins will doubtless cover expenses ; they may do more, indeed, but on this point we are without data.

Native Lands Court. — The Manawatu enso Btill proceeds, though somewhat slowly. The evidence for the Crown must now, wo should think, be drawing towards a dose. After that, Dr Featherston, as was arranged the other clay, will be cross-examined by Mr Williams. Tho latter gentleman, by tho way, has complained that tho Independent misrepresented 6ome remarks made by the Court. Mr Williams misrepresents the ■Independent. We reported Mr Fox to have " claimed the protection of the Court against the vulgar and personal attacks nmdo upon him by Mr Williams," but wo did not say that tho Court made use of tho words "vulgar and personal.' However, as will be seen by our report, Mr Williams has had another snubbing, so it is needless to say any more on tho subject, except, that when ho makes another complaint of misrepresentation, he should be careful nob to commit the very fault himself which he is so ready to condemn in others. While on this subject, wo may remark that our contemporary, tho Evening Post, is grievously misled by a thoroughly incapable and very unscrupulous reporter. His reports have been a series of misrepresentations made in bad spelling, worse Maori, and almost unintelligible English. The opening portion of the report which appeared in fche JPost last night is a tissue of blunders and mis-statements. Mr Fox, though of course in ko way responsible for the reports in the Independent, yet was fortunately able to testify to their correctness; while tho fact that the Court did reprimand Mr Williams for the violent character of his language on a recent occasion, is not denied. Tho gontloman who reports for the Post is clearly not up to his work. His reports are a mere burlesque of tho actual business done. Amateur Theatricals. — Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather the performance given last night in the Odd Fcllowb' Hall, by the amateurs of No 1 Riflo Company, was largely attended ; amongst the audience being tho Hon. Major Richardson, tho Hon. Colonel Haultain, Major Mcßarnet, Mr Coutts Crawford, and largo parties of ladies. Altogether the entertainment was a success. The curtain drew up on tho screaming farce "My friend from Lcatherhead," in which Shanks and Mr Loophole received well deserved applause, their acting being quite professional. The three act play of " Still Waters Run Deep" followed, and was ably sustained. Mr Mildmay and Mr Potter showed great talent, but Captain Hawksley was rather too indistinct, and somewhat too mechanical. The farce of the " Dead Shot," ably sustained, brought, tho entertainment to a most successful close. The lateness of tho hour prevents our giving a more detailed account of tho performance, but we hope on a future occasion to see tho amateurs of No. 1 Company again on Iho boards, for they are dcBerving of great credit for their Thespian taicnt, and for the trouble they must have gono to in obtaining their wardrobe and scenery. The fine band of the company enhanced tho pleasure of fchs entertainment by playing several musical selections during the evening. Land on Deferred Payments Society. — In pursuance of a numerously signed requisition, a meeting of the Land on Deferred Payments Society has been convened to be held in tho Hall of the Mechanics' Institute, at 8 o'clock on Tuesday evening next. A Leo- or Mutton for a Shilling. — We never could understand why when sheop are sold at from 3s to 5s each, mxitton chops should bo 6d to 8d a pound. Lately the butchers have become alive to this inconsistency, and tho other day tho public were informed by two of tho loading firms that the price was in future to bo from 3d to 6d por pound, so mutton at least is tolerably cheap. Of course, if it pays the butchers to sell at tho reduced price, their profits at the previous high rates must have been very largo indeed, because, so far as we can mako out, tho price of sheep has been very low for some months past. But what do our readers think of logs of mutton, weighing 6ilbs each, being sold for one shilling each, and kidneys 6d a dozen. Hero is the evidence of this fact in tho following paragraph from the EaioJce's Hay Herald of tho 11th instant : — " On Wednesday morning the inhabitants of Napier were startled by a very unusual sound, not unlike the distant braying of a war trumpet, and, for the nonce, nothing less than Hau Haus was the prevailing idea. However, before any martial ardor was aroused, the approaching cavalcade resolved itself into tho spring cart of tho Boilingdown Company, limited — containing a supply too limited as it happened, of shilling legs of mutton and kidneys at 66. per dozen. The former were speedily in demand, so much so that the stock was exhausted before the driver reached the Catholic Chapel ; whilo tho latter disappeared like magic, no ono off tho White road having a chance of getting a sight of tho delicacy. The number of logs sent in was 10G, and the demnnd was equal, it is said to double that number ; they averaged 6£- lbs., and looked, ns well as tasted, well, for, having dined off one the same clay at the works, we can speak from experience. The extraordinary sounds which heralded tho approach of the cart were due to tho eccentricity of the driver, who, having failed to procure a bond fide musical instrument, and deeming a be\\ infra dig, as being too much in tho muflln line, hit upon the ingenious expedient of manufacturing a tin trumpet with which to let eager housewives of an economical turn of mind know that cheap legs of mutton were at length an actual reality. Bay op Islands Coal Company. — We have seen tho prospectus of the above company. The capital is put down at £20,000 in 2000 Bhnrea of £10 each, and the directors arc all gentlemen holding prominent positions as men of business, most of whom may bo said to be the parents and guardians of two local institutions, the Bank of New Zealand and tho New Zealand Insurance Company, which have not only been profitable to the shareholders in them, but als) of no small advantage to the general community. Lady Bowen's Opinion of Auckland. — Lady Bowen in replying to an address from the Ladies of Auckland said : — " Every visitor must be charmed with the beautiful scenery of Auckland and its neighborhood ; but it has a tenfold interest in my eyes, for it recalls to me vividly i many remembrances of my nalivo land. While standing on the hills nbovo your town, I cannot fail to recognize the Isthmus of Corinth, and in the Bay of ilnuraki I sco ouco more the Isles of Greece. You may indeed make it your boast that your homo h a favored land." Prospecting-. — ThoWanganui Evening Ilerald says : — " A prospecting party of eight intend proceeding up the river, to-morrow morning, tho distance of about forty miles. They have received such information as induces them to believe that gold exists in payable quantity, close to the river, and they have determined to test tho matter, by going to work quietly, and examining the ground for themselves. It is a fact, which ha? been vouched for upon the best, nulhority, thatgold, mixed with sand, has been brought down the river within the past fortnight, by some Maoris. On Monday or Tuesday wo hopo to bo able to report that prospecting has commenced in earnest under favorable auspices.'*