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Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3856, 14 July 1873, Page 2

The civil sittings of the Supreme Court open this morning at ten. The Board of Education at its last sitting adjourned till this morning, at eleven. A meeting of the Athenaaum committee will be held this evening, at eight o'clock, and members are particularly requested to attend. The annual meeting of the parishioners of St Pauls, for the appointment of vestrymen and churchwardens for the ensuing year, will be held at the schoolrom, Sydney street, next Friday evening, at eight o'clock. We acknowledge the receipt of No. 19 of an Auckland price current, which seems to be a carefully compiled and copious mercantile reference as to the state of the Auckland market. By the last English mail we received copies of two publications by F. B. Courtenay, member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The nature of the works may be seen by an advertisement in another column. The proposed new arrangement for economising space in St Paul's Cathedral, Thorndon, necessitated by the increased attendance during the sitting of the General Assembly, will come into operation next Sunday evening. All seats unoccupied when the bell ceases ringing will be free. The two hours' fall of rain yesterday was the sharpest and most copious that has fallen in Wellington during an equal space of time for a very long period. Places that were dry when the shower commenced looked like small lagoons for hours after ; and the artificial and natural drainage of the city were alike unable to contain within their channels the sudden rush of water, as was testified by miniature gravel beds and sand banks deposited along tke course of the several creeks which run through Te Aro. If the Inspector of Nuisances has a nose and a pair of eyes, and is at all desirous in the fulfilment of the duties of hie office, that he should be made aware of the fact in an offensive manner, let him just take a stroll as far as the Adelaide road ; and if an interesting conference between him and the nightmen of the city does not take place thereafter, we shall be very much surprised. Last night's rain, perhaps, may have lessened the telltale vouchers ; but a day or two ago there was disgusting evidence of great or wilful carelessness. A new attraction is announced for tonight at the Theatre Royal. The original Star Combination Company make their first appearance to-night. The following are the members of the new company : — Miss Tilly Andrews, Arthur Vivian, Harry Simmons, Harry Buxton, Herr Norbey, and Fred Wills. They appear in conjunction with the Theatre Royal Company. The Rev William Morley will deliver a lecture this evening at seven o'clock, in aid of the Thorndon Wesleyan Church. The subject chosen is one of the greatest interest to all staunch Wesleyans, being entitled, "John Wesley; the Man, the Scholar, the Author, the Preacher, and the Ecclesiastic." The p.s. Paterson is ready to go upon the slip, and if nothing intervenes, will be placed upon the cradle about noon to-day. During last week her "donkey" and other little accessories were placed in situ, and several little improvements affected in minor matters. A five-act piece of sensation, entitled the " Avalanche, or three months under the snow," and an after-piece called "The Ship on Fire, or Dumb Girl of Palermo," constituted the bill of far© at the theatre on Saturday. As far as the bill went it was tolerable, and promised a good theatrical repast to an audience not over fastidious to the serving up ; for the only decently-filled part of the house was the pit, which, after all, is the mainstay of the establishment. The front seats below looked a waste of benches, while in the gallery, euphoniously called the "dress circle," some three or four sat iri forlorn-

looking grandeur. The real patrons, however, of the, temple of the drama, evidently had no room to spare. The forms were all filled, and when that happens those who have to stand out the performance on the level floor without being able to look over the heads of those in front of them enjoy a very poor shilling's worth. On the whole the management cannot lay claim to much tact or fairness when they treat their best customers in such a scurvy manner ; and no doubt, if questioned as to the propriety of such an injudicious slight, they would answer in the memorable words of Major Jorum, "Such is life, my dear boy." But it may well be submitted, nevertheless, that "best" customers should be dealt with in an entirely different manner ; and if any privileges are to be accorded, it should be to that class who are most unfailing ' in their attendance. If the manager were to trench a little upon the space at present devoted to the front seats and increase the seating room of the pit, its accommodation would be much improved and the house better divided. Recurring to the theatrical repast itself, it could not but be noticed that some of the invisible cooks behind the scenes neglected their duties, for the dishes were not " done to a turn." Dropping comparisons of the cuisine, the bye-play was even a trifle below the taste of our "gods," and would much better become a theatre with a still more uncultured audience. Miss Stephenson did all that in her lay to redeem the defects referred to, and if she evoked applause and sympathy they were solely for herself. Mr Burford, as usual, acquitted himself in keeping with his rdle for the time being, an excellent quality from which he rarely deviates. While in the suggestive vein, the management might be reminded that for the next three months they will be open to a keener and less friendly criticism than they have been accustomed to meet with either from the Press or the public of Wellington- Parliament brings in its train a large dramatic support, but also the most exacting. Verbum sap. His Excellency the Governor and Lady Fergusson honored the Carandini Family's entertainment with their presence and patronage on Saturday evening. The Madame seemed to suffer from a slight cold, though It was not sufficient to mar her beautiful notes ; at least, so thought the audience — which might well be called select — for they showered their applause at the Madame's entree and exit. Encores were of course out of the question, but after the duet, " Cheerfulness, " the fair sisters were forced to return and bow their acknowledgments to the well-deserved compliment paid them, which is instanced only as an evidence of the feeling of appreciation displayed by the audience throughout the evening. Mr Cotterell was as happy in his imitations of ecceatricity as usual. There will be no performance to-morrow evening, but Wednesday is a " command" night. The new Chambers for the General Assembly were lighted up on Saturday evening for the inspection of the Speakers and others of our legislators anxious to see the effect before the formal opening of Parliament. There was but one opinion as to the success of the lighting arrangements — they are faultless in point of comfort and effect. A flood of soft and mellow light fills the Chamber in every part, without exposing in any spot a dazzling (jlare. In order to produce this luxurious light, the consumption of gas, it is said, is something excessive — so much as to tax the productive powers of the gas company — with a proportionate cost ; but no doubt our legislative sybarites would grumble if their rose-leaf was crumpled in the least, and will say if the question of cost should be raised — "Let there be light !" It will be recollected that one of the Esther's crow had been missing since the 17th of last month, and there was good reason for supposing that the man was drowned. On Friday afternoon a half fleshless corpse was seen washing against the outer tee of the Queen's wharf. The police at once took charge of the ghastly remains and laid them out in the Morgue, ' where an inquest was held in the usual way on Saturday afternoon. Some of the shipmates of deceased identified the body by the clothing which enveloped it as that of John Jones, late of the Esther. The supposition already hazarded was supported by the evidence ; and it may be assumed with tolerable certainty that deceased met his death through falling into the water while trying to board his vessel by the aid of the bowsprit, no gangway being stretched between the vessel and the wharf on the night he lost his life. Were it not for the shreds of clothing, identification w6uld have been impossible, as the skeleton was almost denuded of flesh. The jury returned a verdict of *' Found dead." A Provincial Government Gazette was issued on Saturday, but it contains very little of general importance. The Sheep Inspector of the East Coast has granted a clean certificate to John Morrison, of Whareama. J. Dudley R. Hewitt, Esq., has been appointed an assistant surveyor. The Upokongaro schoolhouse has been appointed the place for the election of a warden of Ward No. 4 of the Wangaehu Highway district. Mr H. C Field is to be presiding officer.. The following resolution has been forwarded by the Wanganui and Waitotara Highway Board : — ' ' The Wanganui and Waitotara Highway Board having considered the objections made by Mr J. M. Thompson to the proposed line of .road running southward from the Great North-western Road near Nukumaru, to the land at present occupied by Mr William Dempster, hereby order the said line to be constructed as laid off by the Board's Engineer." John Thompson was sentenced on Saturday last to three months' hard labor for stealing three bottles of liquor from Mr N. Valentine's Hotel, at the Hutt. It appeared that the prisoner made a blackguard snatch at the bottles out of the bar, as if following an unreasoning infatuation, for he was seen by the proprietor, who at once gave chase. Being an active man, he was overhauling the delinquent fast, when he turned and shook a bottle in a threatening manner at his pursuer. Nothing dauated, the publican was determined to have his grog, and followed the fellow up. Thomson, seeing it was no use to run farther, saved his wind for the purpose of emptying one of the bottles, which he accomplished in a most artistic manner, after having first knocked off tho neck. In the civil case, Brogan v Williams, claim £2 12s, judgment was given for amount and costs 9s. The " Daily Times" publishes a comparative return of the new roll of the Otago Provincial Council, which shows that out of the total of thirty-four districts, twenty returned their old representatives, and that fourteen selected — either in whole or in part — new ones ; that out of a total of forty-six members, the elections have resulted in the return of twenty-eight old members, and the introduction of eighteen new ones.

A Scandinavian Society is being established in Dunedin. Mr Joseph Ivesa has leased the " Lyell Argus" newspaper and plant to Messrs Niven and Johnson. The skeleton of a man named John Andrew, who was lost at the Otepopo bush, Otago, eleven years ago, has been found by a party of pig hunters. A prisoner in the Pentridge Stockade, after shamming insanity for fchree years, was . brought to his sober senses by low diet and solitary confinement. The Victorian Government have positively prohibited the corporal punishment of girls in the State schools under any circumstances. The estimated acreage of cultivated land in the colony of Western Australia is 53,240 acres ; and the estimated acreage of the whole colony, 626,111,323 acres. Miss Beatrice, daughter of Lord Clifford, was burned to death by her clothes catching fire. The melancholy occurrence happened on May Ist. A raid has been made among the Greymouth tradespeople for unlicensed storage of kerosine. The informations were dismissed from non-observance of legal formalities in testing the contents of the packages. Some person or persons wilfully destroyed the new pump at the Heathcote bridge toil-house lately. The pump had only been recently provided by the Road Board, at no little expense, for the convenience of the toll-keeper. During the hearing of a recent case at Maryborough, .. Victoria, a terrible disclosure of immorality and degradation was made. It was proved that ten young European girls, the eldest only 16, were in the habit of consorting with. Chinese, and smoking opium with them, until stupined. A Mr Johnson, of the Victorian Public Works Department, has been dismissed from his appointment in the Oivil Service for having improperly assisted a Mr Smith in the preparation of the prize design for the new law courts in Mcl- i bourne Tne Melbourne " Daily Telegraph" recommends that the Victorian metropolitan journals should refuse to receive any cable telegrams for a few weeks. It thinks such a plan would have the effect of bringing public pressure to bear on the Government regarding the subsidising of the now overtaxed journals of the city. From an English paper we learn that a Miss Robertson, daughter of an English clergyman, had created a sensation in the south of England by her musical performances at a concert. The lady's voice is said to have a higher range than that of any living singer. She can touch the B an octave above the B reached by average professional singers, while for several seconds she sustained the upper G with a power and clearness which produced in- j tense excitement among the audience, j The notes mentioned above are higher than were ever sung in public by Jenny Lind, and othor celebrated vocalists. A recent event in the history of missionary enterprise was the translation and the printing at Honolulu of the New Testament in the language of the Gilbert Islands. As the Maoris are of a cognate race with the Hawaiian s, judging by personal appearance and a similarity of language, we give, as a curiosity, the title page of this little book', which is to go forth a messenger of glad tidings to one of the dark corners of the earth : — " Te Nu Teamantj, ac ana taeka ana XJea ao ara Tia Kamaiu are lesu Kristo, ac kaenaki man taetaen Erene." A sheep-dog match took place at Rosebank Farm, Woodford, on the Bth inst. The "Warrnambool Examiner" reports that the contest was between Mr John Davidsonii dog, against Mr John Taylor's slut, for £10 a side. The first lot of twenty sheep were let out of a yard, and taken down to a clear paddock a distance of about six hundred yards. Mr Davidson then sent his dog for the sheep, which were brought upland put through the gateway in good style by the dog. Twenty others were prepared for Mr Taylor's dog in a similar manner, and were put through the gate after some delay. Two lots of five sheep each were then taken to the paddock, and in passing through Mr Davidson's dog decidedly had the advantage. The next lots were three and two sheep respectively for each dog, when Mr Taylor's had the best of it for the smaller number. As Mr Davidson's dog became tired, he was unable to bring up the sheep, t consequently the judges awarded the stakes to Mr Taylor. Many present stated that they would prefer Mr Davidson's animal as being more generally useful in bringing up a large number of sheep. In his report to the Provincial Government the Governor of the Dunedin Gaol says : — "The labor of prisoners has this year been utilised in what may be considered a novel way. A gang of twentythree men and officers have been sent to Port Chalmers every morning by train, returning the same evening. They have been engaged in forming a road from Port Chalmers to Carey's and Deborah Bay along the sea beach, and have some difficult work to perform in blasting, cutting rock, &c. The further development of the railway system may enable the gaol to undertake, at more distance from Dunedin, useful works such as the prisoners are now accomplishing beyond Port Chalmers. I am not aware whether in any gaol this experiment of forwarding prisoners by train to execute works has been tried. As the Government will have the sole control of the railways, and arrangements can thereby be made for cheap carriage, there will always be found, should this experiment succeed, ample employment for prisoners in out-door work, and the objection made in the New Zealand Commissioners' report to prisoners working in the public streets of a town would be thereby obviated. So far as the experiment has been tried, no difficulty has been experienced in carrying it out. According to the mining statistics of the Colony of Victoria for the quarter ended March 21st, the quantity of gold raised duripg the quarter, as calculated by the registrars and surveyors from information they had obtained from goldbuyers and others, was 297,7110z 7dwt, of which 129,0460z 2dwt was alluvial gold, and 168,6650z sdwt gold from quartz. The quantity of Victorian gold, however, which was exported during the quarter was, according to the Customs returns, 367,1590z 4dwt. The gross weight of gold received at the Mint during the quarter was 50,716*880z, and the amount of coin issued was 49, 181'690z, and of gold in bullion 864*50z. The amount of Victorian gold received at the Mint during the quarter was only 8,264'20z. The estimated number of minefrs at work vras 52,873, of whom 14,000 were Chinese. An exchange furnishes the following scientific paragraph : — Compressed air, and its peculiarities, are at present a great subject of discussion with scientific men at Homo. ( There is not much pretence to aa acquaintance with science in Greymouth, but the same subject provides daily conversation here. The current of

air which follows the sun of an evening I off the West Coast gets pretty well'compressed in this vicinity, there being but ' one funnel— the Greymouth Gorge— for the escape of a very large area of atmosphere. The consequences are well known but not appreciated by those who expe- 1 rience them, and those who do not can assist imagination, and realise something like the real feeling, by wetting the points of their noses, and presenting the same to the spout of the biggest pair of blacksmith's bellows that they can find. A temporary experiment of the kind may be refreshing, but it can never be genial, and its perpetuation for days is decidedly calculated to provoke snifters and swearing. It is not favorable to the production of caloric, or of a population characterised by serenity of temper and pro* priety of language. As a sample of what compressed air can do, we read that Professor Tyndall has succeeded, by the aid of a column of watertwo hundred and sixty feet high, in compressing air to one-eighth its origi»al volume, and that when allowed to escape it rushed out so violently as to cause so intense a cold that the moisture in the room was congealed into a shower of snow, while the pipe whence the air issued was edged with icles. In our sweetly picturesque but otherwise objectionable gorge, the compression is scarcely so great, perhaps, but there is considerj able similarity in the effects when the sun is out of sight. A strange story comes in the shape of a rumour from Sydney. Recently (says the Melbourne correspondent of the V Daily Times") the honors of a splendid public funeral were accorded to the remains of the late W. 0. Wentworfch, in recognition of the great service he had rendered the country. It is now said that the remains that were carried in procession, orated over, and solemnly deposited in the tomb prepared for them, were not those of the deceased statesman, but those of another member of his family, whose body was also sent out for interment, his own being forwarded by another ship. Should the tale o be true, it would impart a truly grotesque character to the celebration ; and should it be false, as is most likely, it is a pity that the imagination of its author did not reserve itself for literary productions in the shape of penny dreadfuls. A Christchurch paper mentions the following narrow escape : — A man named Chave, in the employ of Mr J. L. Wilson, miller, Cashel street, had a very narrow escape on Saturday from serious injuries. His apron caught in a shaft which stands a short distance above the floor, and had it not for his clothes giving way he must have been drawn round and dashed to the floor. His apron, the right leg of his trousers, and part of the stocking on his right foot were completely torn away, the leg being also extensively bruised. The following melancholy facts "are related by the " Murrurundi Times :" — In the early part of last week Mr Porters, the newly-appointed teacher at Wallabadah, took ill, and died after acute suffering. On the Friday evening following the widow became alarmingly ill. Three doctors were summoned, but in spite of their combined scientific knowledge, she gradually sank, and in a few hours joined her husband. Of the family two children now remained. The infant of the deceased parents next sickened and died. The other also experienced an attaok of the fatal disease, but its life was spared. This terrible mortality is attributed by the medical attendants to the disease known as pleuro-pneumonia, similar to the peat which raged among the^cattle some years ago in this colony. No inquest was held on the bodies, Mr Calcutt, who was appointed by the General Government to examine the line of country through which the Nelson and Greymouth Railway ia proposed to pass, arrived in Greymouth on the 20th June, accompanied by his cicerone, Mr Sayle, and his. other companion on the journey, Mr Mackay, reached town on Saturday evening by coach. The journey overland occupied a fortnight, and was made by way of the Hope Valley to the Four Rivers Plain, at the confluence of theMatakitaki, Mangles, and Matiri, with the river Buller. From that point Mr Calcutt proceeded by the Mangles road as far as M'Gregor's station, and thence by Hunter's station and Moonlight's homestead to the Maruia Plains. Returning from the Plains, the party rode down the Matakitaki "Valley, and then took the usual road down the Buller Valley, along the Inangahua Valley to Reefton, and from Reefton to Greymouth. The weather was generally favorable during the journey and Mr Calcutt had a fair opportunity of acquainting himself with the features of the conntry, and with the extent of its resources in timber and minerals. With his two " guides, philosophers, and friends," he intends taking passage by the Rangitoto— they returning to Nelson, and he proceeding to Wellington to make report of his experiences and of the opinion he may have formed as to the character of the country which he has visited.—" G. R. Argus."