LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3278, 15 August 1871, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Opening of Pabliament. — The Volunteers will assemble on the reclaimed land to-day to form a guard of honor at the opening of Parliament. The House of Repuesentatives. — At the opening of Parliament yesterday, the great majority of the membera of the House of Representatives were presont, and before the real business of the session will have commenced, all the membera will, no doubt, bo in attendance. The West Coast members may be expected to-day by the Claud Hamilton, and the southern members j will probably put in an nppearance on the arrival of the steamer Wellington. The members who were absent yesterday were Messrs Bathgate, Bryce, Buckland, Caldor, C'u-tis, Henderson, Inglis, Lightband, O'Connor, Orraond, Reid, Rhodes, Shephard (member for Waiuica, Nelson), Stafford, Tribe. Yogel, White, Williamson, and Wood. The Lighthouses. — The Luna left harbor last night for the purpose of conveying stores to the lighthouses at Cape Farewell, Cape Campbell, and Mana. Meetings oe Creditors.— Tho " Wanganui Chronicle" of the 12th reports: — In a brief paragraph yosterday wo intimated that a meeting of the creditors of Messrs Brewer and Duvio, cattle dealers, had been held in the Rutland Hotel, but the number of settlers interested in the business justifies tho publication of tho proceedings which took place. Mr Q-eorgo Beaven was called to tho ohair. Mr Duncan, solicitor, appeared for the firm, and read a statement of their affairs. The followis a summaay of tho figures : — Liabilities securod, 62,000 ; unsecured, £6,171— £8,171 ; assets, £5120. Among the assets are sot down Btoamcv St Kilda £2,500, leas mortgago £1,500 —£1,000; sheep, £261 ; wool, £500 ; goodwill of business, £500; buildings, sundries, &c, £2,859— £5,120. And on tho 12th states :— Tho adjourned meeting will bo hold, at the Rutland Hotel, on Monday next at three o'clock afternoon. Adding that owing to tho failure of Messrs Brewer and Durie, Mr R. S. Low has boera obliged to call a meeting of his creditors, which will take take place on Monday at 2 o'clock p.m, u^M^ll - -

! Leottjee by Archdeacon Stock. — The third of the course of popular lectures was delivered last evening by the Yen. Archdeaoon Stock. The arrangement was that the lecture should bo delivered in tho Presbyterian schoolroom, Willis-street, but at the hour of meeting the school-room was so crowded that an adj jouvnment was made to the Church. The I Rev J. Paterson was in the chair, and fche audience included the Bishop of Wellington and clergymen of the several denominations, Major Richardson, Speaker of tho Legislative Council, and a number of the mombers of the Generul Assembly. " The Antiquity of Mau" formed tho subject of tho lecture, which was listened to throughout with tho greatost attention, and apparent approval, the learned lecturer being frequently and warmly applauded. It would bo impossible in an abridgment of the lecture to speak in torms adequate to so able a disquisition on a subject so involved, but as it is intended to publish, it in exlenso, those who were present at its delivery, as woll as any others who may desire to analyse and compare tho views taken by tho rovorend gentleman with those of Darwin or Iluxley, will have an opportunity of doing so. Wo depart from our custom of giving a synopsis of tho lecture for tho reason that it would be doing the lecturer scant justice to reproduce a portion of a lecture which could only be injured by its parts being dissociated. A.t tho close of tho lecture, a few appropriate remarks wore made by the chairman, when a hearty vote of thanks was given to the learned lecturer, Before tho audience separated tho Eev. Mr Pater3on intimated that he was uuuble to name the lecturer or the subject of lecture for next Monday evening, but that if he was successful in obtaining a lecturer he would make due annnouueement. The Athenjjum. — The extensive alterations in the interior of this building are fast drawing to a close. Tho cosy little room which has done such good service in years past has been completely metamorphosed. At the end facing the entrance a neat little stage and proscenium have been introducod, with the object of enabling the committee to hold entertainments in the hall. This will no doubt be the means of increasing their resources to such an extent as to enable them in the future to provide for tho rapidly increasing wants of our community in the directions both of a suitable place to hold meetings and entertainments and to provide tho wherewithal for properly shelving and binding the works in their possession, and of adding to their already very extensive and valuable library. The carpenters are now working night and day to finish the alterations in time for the holding of the entertainment to be given to-morrow evening by the members of tho Early Closing Association. E.M. CotutT. — One case of a trifling character was set down ou the charge sheet for hoaring yesterday morning, but was adjonrncd till Thursday. Some uninteresting civil cases weredisposed of during tho morning. The Wanganui Prisoners, — By the Wanganui arrived last night M'Donald, on a warrant of commitment, charging him with the crimes of arson and murder. The man Corbett, charged with commission of a rape upon a married woman at Wangnnui, also arrived. Thoy were both, immediately despatched to ho gaol. The City Council Election. — Tho polling for tho election of a member for tho vacant seat in .the City Council will take place today. As in tho case of tho Provincial Council election, there is little of political interest in the issue, if we except the declaration of one of tho candidates, who goes in for nothing less than wholesale demolition of provincial institutions. Mr Anderson relies principally on the good feoling of his fellow citizens for his success, and judged by such an ordeal, we are not entitled to contrast the merits of the candidates j but in this they both agree — that they do not pledge themselves to anything in particular. The feeling of the ratepayers present at the meeting was not tested by the cenvontional method of a show of hands, but as far as we could judge, in tho absonce of such a guide, Mr Buckley seemed to have the call. A great importance is attached to the result of the " contest" by a section of the public, who, in all probability, will consider tho success of their candidate as a great triumph. Excitement in tho meantime is all one-sided, but the result of the polling to-day will express -what the opinion of the general public is upon the many civic matters that have occupied attention of late. We have no intention of espousing tho cause of either candidate, but we would remind the burgesses that matters of great importance connected with our municipal affairs still remain undecided, and that their choice of to-day may be the means of exerting a considerable amount of beneficial influence on tho future of our municipal body. The remarks of Mr Buckley that the City Council as a body should occupy a more prominent status in the community is one in which, we heartily concur, and this must be taken as one of the signs of a growing appreciation and tho coming into existence of a more active interest than has over before been exhibited among the citizens of Wellington. Lunatics.— T wo lunatics from Wanganui were brought down in the steamer Wanganui laat night. One has yet to undergo medical examination j bub tho other has been committed to Karori on the certificates of two medical gentlemen. Tho form of mania with which he is afflicted is flux machine on the brain. Nothing can dissuade him from the idea that he has a flax machine in his head, and that it and his brains are continually on the rack. His undivided idea is that this machine has been aout to him for approval, aad that as yet ho is undecided whether it is tho " right sort," but he is determined to investigate the matter till it shall leave not v rack behind. Both men are quite harmless beyond the unlimited indulgence iv the peculiarities of their frailty. The " Watchtoweh." — The seventh and eighth numbors of this magazine are to hand. In the first is a very full report of the Hon. Mr T?ox's lemarks on the Preaching of the Present Age, about which there was lately so much fierco and " tall" writing in Wellington. These remarks are tho calm and temperate utterances of one who baa thought evidently a good deal ou tho subject, aud, being singularly free from dogmatism, it is inconceivable how they could offend anyone. The speaker had evidently determined to avoid tho too common practice at Church soirees of uttering pleasing platitudes. Tho following extracts will serve to show tho general tenor of his remarks : — ln the present day, at least in the ordinary ministrations of the Church, preaching seemed to have lost its power, the preachers wore feeblo and the hearers listless. Ho had been led to anulyse the causes of this difference, and he thought ho could point out a few of them. In the first place, the great preachers of formor days did not attack sin in tho abstract, thoy boldly attacked the prominent sinful habits of those to whom they preached. They singled such sins out which particularity, and denounced them without mercy. Such men as lluss, Jerome of Prasuo, Wyeliffo, Martin Luther, Knox, Wesley, Whitfield, and tho like never hesitated to " hit out" at the prevailing siu3 of tho ago, which stood between tho people they preached to, and their acceptance of tho Gospel. Now his oxperience of modorn preaching was that it groutly failod in this particular. Another peculiarity in modern preaching, which he also ranked among its defects, was tho entire exclusion of the history of tho Church from the time of Patmos to tho present day. Tho Church has had a continuous existence of 1800 years siuee tho book of tho Apocalypse closod tho direct revelation between God and man. That long period had boon fruitful of events of the highest Christian importance, and htid produced confessors and murtyrs innumerable, who bore witness by their sufferings and deaths to the truth of tho doctrinoa which they maintained by their preaching and their lives. What a miuo of wealth was hero for the preacher of tho prosent day ; but how seldom did ho proaont its riches to his hearers ! The result was that tho ininda of mobt congregations were a blank ou tho subject, and ignorant

of the connecting links which bound them to the ancient faith. It seemed to him that this omission tended greatly to narrow the catholicity of our Churches. Each congregation, ignorant of its relationship, which wore the growth of past centuries, limited its sympathies almost to the four walls within which it worshipped. A third topic on which ho (Mr F.) thought the preachers of the present day might enlarge with advantage to their hearers, was the operations of the Church and of Christian individuals of the present period. The progress of missions — the charitable institutions carried on a spirit of Christiau faith, such as the Ashley Downs Orphanages, the Rough House of Wichern at Berlin, and a thousand other evidences of the vitality of Cln'istianity, might form the subject of Christian instruction, and enforce the text of " go then and do likewise." But the congregations seldom henr of these things unless when a charity sermon, as it is called, is occasionally preached for the benefit of some institution with which the particular congregation is connected. Of the works of the Christian Church as a whole, and, regarded from a Catholic point of view, they seldom (as congregations) hear at all. In conclusion, Mr Fox hoped that the rev. gentlemen now present would not suppose that he intended to criticise any of them. His remarks were, as he had already stated, derived from a lifelong experience in all parts of the world, and ho had no intention of commenting upon preaching in Now Zealand in particular. If lie had said anything which had a particular application, ho begged to assure them that it was not his intention to give it such j but he had simply given the meeting a resume of his experience on a largo scale. The other contents of the number are varied in their character, and Emmot, a tale from humble life, is admirably told. Tnß Thames Foeeshoee. — Native MeetINO-.— We loam from the " N. Z. Herald" of the 9th instant, that, in anticipation of the session of the Assembly, the Ngatimaru chiefs and people expressed a desire to represent to gome influenlial member their grievances and complaints with respect to the fore-shore 1 1 the Thames, the unconditional disposal of which by them has been dt barred by the Shortland Beach Act of 1869. Accordingly a meeting was arranged, and Mr Williamson, one of the members for Auckland, and Mr O'Neill, the member for the G-oldfields, were requested to meet thorn, with the view to consult with thorn as to the proper steps to be taken with regard to their difficulties. The meeting wa9 held at Parawai, and was attended by most, if not all, of the principal chiefs and influential men of the tribe. Mr O'Neill was unable to attend, but Messrs Williamson, O'Keefe, wi'h Mr John 0. Young, as interpreter, appeared at the time and place appointed for the meeting. Mr Walter Puokey, Civil Commissioner, was also present. The natives expressed what they had to say from underneath the British Ensign, which they had themselves hoiated for the occasion, and the speakers maintainod a most respectful and loyal tone throughout. They were also most friendly in their reception of Mr Williamson, and in the remarks addressed to him in explanation of the subject of these compliments. In reply to these addresses, Mr Williamson recommended tho natives to forward a petition to tho Government, and he promised to represent what they had aaid. Mr O'Keefe also addressed tho tribe, and, among other matters, referred to the stoppage of the tolegraph by To Hira— a subject on which Mr Willliamson recommended thorn to remonstrate strongly. Before ';he conclusion, Rewi, the principal Ngafciniaru chief, came forvsa'd on his own behalf and that of the tribe, and warmly expressed satisfaction for Mr Williamson's coming to confer with them, and convey their thoughts to the Parliament, Teheiblb Mining Accident. — We, " Grey Rirvr Argus," have to add another to the long list of mining casualties in thia district. On Thursday evening, the ground in one of the drives at the claim known as the " Greek's," situated at Merton Town, Half-Ounce Creek, caved in, and six men were covered. As soon as the accident was known, a strong body of men set to work to clear away the debris, and fortunately thoir efforts were so far successful that four out of tho six men were recovered. The others, who were further in the drive, were killed. Relays of men wore at work until yesterday morning at ten o'clock, when our informant left, and the working party had come in sight of one of the bodies, but at that moment a set of timber hastily put in gave way, and necessarily delayed operations. There is hardly a shadow of doubt that both the remaining buried men are dead, and Mr Warden White foord proceeded up river this morning and held an inquest on the remains, which have by this time been brought out. One of the victims is a man named Neilson, and the other a Greek, whose name we have not been able to ascertain. The Kaipaea Railway. — At a meeting of the Auckland Provincial Executive, hold last Tuesday, Mr Edgar's tender for the construction of the Kaipara railway was accepted, subject to preliminary arrangements. Mr Edgar's was the lowest tender, the amount being £42,620 from Lamb's point ; and £42,324 from Harkin's point. From the former point all tho tenders were higher than from Harkin's point, thuß endorsing the opinion given by Mr 0. O'Neill when referred to on the subject. Awfully Sudden Death thbough Intoxication. — An Auckland paper says another has been added to the list of persons who have mot with their death whilst in a state of intoxication. The victim in this caso was a man named Samuel Close, who at the time wa3 employed as an engineer on the paddle steamer Challenger, which has just returned from the Kaipara. It appears that Dr. M. E. B. Nicholson having missed the Enterprise on her last trip to town on Saturday evening was leaving Holme's wharf when his attention was attracted by tho cries of some ladies. On hastening to the spot he found that a man who, but a few minutes previously, had passed him seemingly the worse for liquor, had fallen into the water. The Doctor, with assistance from Holme's Hotel, succeeded in rescuing him from his dangerous position, and removed him to the hotel, where for two hours restoratives were used to induce respiration. Ultimately, these efforts were successful, but on examination a severe wound was noticed on the left side of Close's face, extending down his temple. From this it appeared that deceased must, whilst endeavoring to get into a boat, have fallen, and the water being very shallow he must have struck his head against some hard substance, which caused tho wound. Everything possible was done to alleviate his sufferings, but being in an intoxicated state tho full extent of his injuries could not be ascertained. After lingering for some hours in intense pain ho died at one o'clock on Sunday morning. Dr Nicholson informs us that in all probability life would have been saved, but for tho wound on his head, which most likely produced concussion of the brain. An inquest will bo held on his remains, when the real cause of his death will bo ascertained. Retrenchment in Otago. — We cut the following from the Dunstan " Times," of which district Mr Pyko is Warden : — " For sale, by privato contract, a first-claes buggy and saddle horso. Only cause of sale, reduction of salary by Provincial Government. Apply to tho undersigned — Vincent Pxke." The Thames Waterworks. —By exchanges to hand we learn that Mr J. J, O'Neill, C.E., has completed tho survey of tho Wttfcor-courso for tho supply of the Thames goldfiolds, and tho plans are being prepared to bo laid before Parliament. In spite of tho weather and tho rough state of tho country, tho work has been completed by Mr O'Neill in a comparatively short time, and reflects great credit on that gentlemen. The water is to bo taken somewhere up the Kaueranga Creek, running to the Moanatairi, the whole length of the line being about fifty miles. The carrying out of this work will be a groat boon to tho district, and enable much progress to bo mado in tho development of this field. , j

New Caledohia.— We are in receipt of newspapers from Noumea, from the 28th June to the 19fch met. Improvements are boing made ia the streets of Noumea, especially in Eve Sebastopol and Eve Vauban. The Cheflieu is complained of as being " horribly dull." The Government are taking precautions to prevent the pleuro-pneumonia, which rages amongst the cattle on the Duces Peninsula, from spreading on the mainland. The " Moniteur de la N. 0.," of the 12th of July, publishes a decree the object of which is to prevent contagious cattle diseases from spreading among the cattle of the native population. The Governor, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, and by the direotor of the araenal, left Noumea on the Bth inst, in the Titema, to visit the western coast. He returned to Noumea on the 16th inst, haying been to Coetempoe, Bouloupari, and Uarai. Journalistic Compliments.— The Auckland "Evening Star" of the Bth expresses its anxiety about the welfare of the " News" ia this way: — "We must express our surprise that our contemporary, the " Morning News," has, this morning, wholly overlooked the important intelligence, arrived last night, by the Suez mail. As our contemporary was to have taken the fore rank of journalism and taught lessons, nob only to New Zealand, but to the world, we can hardly understand this occurrence. Several columns of European intelligence, arrived by the Hero last night, appears in both of our respectable morning contemporaries. The " News" has apparently slumbered and Blopt, or was it on the spree ? or is it so absorbed with toadying to the Superintendent as to have ignored European politics ? or is it sick nigh unto death ? exhibiting the promonitory symtomß that preceded the dissolution of its ephemeral predecessors. Is this one of the diseases incident tochildhood, or is it thosymptoms of premature senility ? Again we ask, what's up with the " News ?" Cxty.Dbaikaqe. — In the Christchurch City Council a petition to his Worship the Mayor has been brought before the Oounoil, requesting that a public meeting should be called to collider the question of the drainage of thecity.